The Rainbow Factory
by x-ElliKagami-x
Summary: Where your fears and horrors come true...Scootaloo decides to become a better flyer and wants to get her cutie mark after two whole years of being talentless. The Rainbow Factory is an ideal place; where ponies go to train their flying skills. Pegasus ponies, to be precise. But what goes on down below, when everypony is either asleep or out training? -Contains OCs & M for violence-
1. Welcome To The Rainbow Factory

So this place... Let's talk about it. _Rainbow Factory. _Ring a bell? It should. Not many ponies live through that terrible nightmare, but a couple of ponies can share their experience as they go through it. It all ends at one point, that's for sure. And who knew that the person who was least suspected... Well... Was suspected?

_~Two Years Into The Future~_

I looked up into the distance to see the place that many ponies were talking about. Ever since the plans were released five months ago, there's been non-stop talk about it. Five months is a long time from developed plans. However, here we are, five months later, on the day of its opening. It's supposed to be a brilliant training centre for pegasi with weak wings. Why else would I be so hyped up? It apparently offers the best care in all of Cloudsdale. My good friend is involved with the running of this training centre, surprisingly. No surprise there, actually. She's the best pegasus flyer I know and nopony would argue with me on that. "Are you sure you want to go there? It looks pretty dull..." said Apple Bloom, one of my best friends.

"I agree! There are surely other places to train your wings," agreed Sweetie Belle, my other best friend. I shook my head.

"You guys just don't want me to get my cutie mark, do you?!" I exclaimed. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom had received their cutie marks. There wasn't much purpose for our little group, the Cutie Mark Crusaders, now that two members had their cutie marks. Sweetie Belle discovered her talent through drama and Apple Bloom's talent was apple related. Rarity, Sweetie Belle's sister, always lent a helping hand for drama costumes. Sweetie Belle leads in nearly all drama plays.

"It's not that, honestly!" Apple Bloom said.

"Then what is it?" I asked. I was still a weak flyer, even after two years. I felt so pathetic too because two whole years had passed. Another two whole years of being talentless. I suspected my destiny was to do with being the best flyer ever but it wasn't possible right now. No matter what I tried, my wings were still pathetically weak.

"I don't trust this new training centre," Sweetie Belle sighed.

"Just because you never want to see me get my cutie mark! I've crusaded for far too long, girls. My crusading ends here, okay?! I'll do this training for the three months that is accepted and then I'll come out with a whole new outlook on life," I replied. I was angry at my friends. They clearly didn't want their circle of attention to be broken by my new cutie mark. It's kind of disgusting. People still drool over their 'cool' cutie marks.

"You'll be gone for three months...?" Apple Bloom asked.

"Three whole months?!" Sweetie Belle squeaked.

"And no returning until I'm the next big flyer after Rainbow Dash," I replied.

"Is this why you're goin' there? So you can take after Rainbow Dash?" Apple Bloom asked.

"_No, _that _isn't _the reason!" I defensively said.

"So she's involved in it all though?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"So is Fluttershy. She may be a softie, but her flying sure is great," I replied.

"We're not mad at you and we _do _want you to get your cutie mark, but... Just be careful in there. Okay, Scootaloo? We don't wanna have to lose you," Apple Bloom said.

"Okay... I'm sorry. I promise, I'll come back safe and sound with a new attitude towards life," I replied. And that was that. I had to make my way up to the new training centre. I walked there since I obviously couldn't fly. So the way this thing ran was that weak flying ponies could give in their name to try and be accepted. On the day of opening, 50 ponies at random would be accepted and they would go on to train for a month. 25 of those ponies go on to the second month and then 50 more new ponies are accepted for their first month. Only 2 ponies go head to head for the final month. That's all the information that was given out, but it's basically a survival of the fittest. I loved competition, so I was ready to face what was given.

I eventually got to the gates of the training centre. Or you know, the back of the crowd of ponies. The crowd was huge! I glanced up at the tall building. On it, had giant letters which spelled out: RAINBOW FACTORY. So that's its name... Rainbow Factory. It was a dark, metally coloured building. It looked pretty dull and gloomy for a fun, competitive training centre. Maybe it was brighter on the inside. A loud voice came booming over the speakers. Everypony fell silent, waiting excitedly for the names to be read out. "We will now start reading out the names of the 50 ponies whom will attend Rainbow Factory's flight training academy for the first month. If you do not get picked this month, don't be disheartened. Next month may be the one for you."

"Please..." I mumbled under my breath. I wanted to get in. I really wanted to earn my cutie mark. I knew that this was my destiny, and this was the way to earn my mark. And so, it began. I counted how many names were being read out. I saw faces light up around me. It came to number 48.

"Our 48th lucky pony who will attend Rainbow Factory for three months is Scootaloo." I gasped. I did it! I got in! Lucky 48! From now on... My lucky number is exactly that. 48. It meant something special to me now. Two more names were announced and then the voice finished up speaking. Ponies stepped aside to let the 50 of us gather. The gates opened exactly five minutes after the names were announced. I was at the back of the crowd and suspected that was the best thing to do. We entered Rainbow Factory. It was a huge place and as I got closer in, the more training fields I could see which were in sections. I could see signs which said: 'K', 'I' and 'L'. Okay then... Odd.

"Ha-heeyy! Scoots!" called my favourite pony.

"Rainbow Dash!" I exclaimed, in awe. She was waiting at the front of the building.

"You made it! Good going, Scoots! This will be the top-tip way to gain your cutie mark; winning this competition!" Rainbow Dash laughed.

"Will you be leading some of the activities?" I eagerly asked.

"Not so sure on that one. But you'll love it inside! I had a sneak peek last week when I was appointed head of activities. It's got so many great resources and training guides. Well let's not just stand here like a couple of weird-looking ponies! Let's get inside and get these three months started!" Rainbow Dash replied, smiling. I smiled and we both entered the Rainbow Factory. Rainbow Dash was correct. The inside looked stunning and full of colour and bursting with life. The shade of red on the walls were perfect; it's like they didn't even use paint. Haha! It looked great, it really did.

"So do we all get our own rooms?" I asked.

"Well yeah but there are rooms specifically for three people each. You'll get assigned to your room instead of being told on a huge long list of people. The first real training starts tomorrow. Today's just for you to get used to living here at Rainbow Factory," Rainbow Dash replied.

"Oh, I see..." I said.

"Here's your room number before I forget, kid!" Rainbow Dash said, and handed me a piece of paper with the room number on it by her mouth. "Just make a left here and then walk down the corridor until you see your room number. Trust me, you'll love the rooms. As for now, I gotta go, because I'm... Uh, I'm needed." It sounded like Rainbow Dash forgot her words completely. It was odd. She paused at 'I'm' and then trailed off. Then she just continued as normal.

"Okay, have fun," I said, with a mouth full of paper. I ignored what Rainbow Dash did, however. It probably was nothing and I was just over-thinking because of Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. I wonder how they'll do without me for three months... Hmm... Hopefully they'll be okay. Besides, it's not like they'll forget about me. We've been best friends ever since that day Diamond Tiara held that terrible party in honour of her cutie mark or whatever it was. Funny thing is, her and Silver Spoon hardly ever talk any more. I don't know if she's involved with Rainbow Factory or anything. Anyway, it's not like she would be involved. This place is used to help pegasus ponies. Diamond Tiara wouldn't even help a pegasus, never mind an earth pony or magic pony. I headed over to my room, following Rainbow Dash's instructions on where to go. I kept on going with an awkward piece of paper in my mouth. I tried to glance down at it but I found myself covering up part of the number with my mouth. I tried to adjust it but the paper just got even more wet as I tried. I made it out clearly, eventually. My room number was... Oh! 48. Awesome! My lucky number... It certainly must be lucky if it's my room number for the next three months! Hah, awesome. I pushed the door open with my muzzle, still awkwardly holding onto the piece of paper in my mouth. I must have been the first one there, because nobody else was in the room. I puffed out the piece of paper. There were three beds. I chose one of them, not really fussing on its quality or how comfortable it looked. It didn't really matter to me; I probably wouldn't be sleeping much with all of this awesomeness to come!

I was sat awkwardly in my room by myself for approximately fifteen minutes. When I saw the clock strike 12:55pm exactly, the door was pushed open and I saw two ponies standing at the door. They looked close... For a split second, I swore that they looked doubles of Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. Gosh, I'm missing my best friends already. "Oh! little room buddy is already here." The first pony to speak was a female. She had a black, plaited mane, supported by a dark blue ribbon. Her tail was short and was straight. She was a teal coloured pony. I think she looked really pretty, but the way she spoke... The tone of voice wasn't very nice to say the least.

"Hmm, looks like she is. I wonder if she speaks." The second pony was coloured mint and had a vanilla-coloured mane which was styled into a bun with two pieces coming down both sides of her neck. Her tail was long-ish. She also looked pretty.

"Um... I'm Scootaloo." Those were the only words I managed to say. I didn't know of their expectations of friendship and how they should be treated. After all, my only two friends ever were Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. They were nice like me; I could sense that connection when we first met. But these are ponies from Cloudsdale and I didn't know much of the behaviour of these ponies. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were from Cloudsdale, though, and they're really nice.

"I'm Angel," said the mint coloured pony.

"And I'm Featherwing," added the teal coloured pony.

"It's nice to meet you both!" I greeted, smiling my best smile. They sneered and walked in the room. They were both pegasus ponies, of course. I decided not to push my luck with speaking. Their wings looked big and pretty much developed so I didn't know why they were here. Unless the Rainbow Factory also specialised in something I didn't know of. My wings were still relatively small and that bugged me pretty much all of the time.

"These ponies look like a bunch of pathetic nobodys. Ugh, I suspected this facility would bring about the begs and desperates," Featherwing scoffed.

"Ugh, tell me about it! Why can't anybody be nice like us?" Angel replied. Hmm. I wonder.

After spending many terrible and long hours with my two new 'buddies', I looked out the window to see it was getting dark. I felt my stomach turn. I guess this is what it's like to be homesick, huh...? I kept my sighs and pity to myself, because I knew for a fact that Featherwing and Angel wouldn't care at all. And if they found out that I was homesick after about 8 hours, they'd probably laugh. I don't care if they're bullies anyway. I'm not here to make friends or make enemies; I'm here to win the overall competition. Just as long as I don't get put up against Featherwing or Angel in the final, then I'm perfectly fine, thank you very much! "This so-called caring factory isn't doing much for us - There's no room service at all! Who do they think they are?! We're important people! Well... You and I are, Angel. I'm not so sure about little miss pathetic wings over there," said Featherwing. These ponies need to stop complaining, honestly. They're reminding me more and more of Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, back in the years when they used to bully me, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom. I wonder how they're doing now. I haven't seen them around Cloudsdale, which is good. Last I heard, they moved to Cloudsdale but I never saw them. I lived in Cloudsdale myself for the past four months because of the Rainbow Factory opening. It excited me at the time, hearing all about its opening, and here I am right now, actually living the experience! Too bad the ponies I'm living with aren't as excited as I am. That just depresses me even more.

"Haha, you're right on that. We're the only important ones here, clearly. That little blank flank there won't even pass the first month," giggled Angel. I decided to keep my mouth shut.

"And that's another thing. Why haven't you got your cutie mark yet? A pony of your age should have found their destiny by now, along with how to fly properly," Featherwing said.

"I don't know why..." I mumbled, feeling worse about myself by the second.

"I'm surprised she hasn't got her cutie mark for being talentless. Haha!" Angel mocked.

"Please... Just stop..." I said, feeling tears of anger form in my eyes.

"Is that a challenge?" Featherwing asked.

"No, it isn't... I-"

"You what? Stop talking back to us like that! It's getting you nowhere and it's completely rude," Angel snapped.

"I _will _get my cutie mark some day! I came here to be a winner! I will show to you that I can win!" I yelled.

"I'd love to see that happen, ahaha!" Featherwing exclaimed. Her and angel began laughing evilly. It sounded awful and made me want to cry even more.

"Alright you lot! Break it up," said a mature female's voice at the door. Featherwing and Angel stopped laughing and I looked up to see who it was. It was an elegant pony, who was tall and white. She had big white pegasus wings and a black and ginger coloured mane/tail. She wore a black hat and also wore purple glasses with a matching purple tie which was held by a white collar. This blended in with her coat. Her blue eyes sparkled. She was... Beautiful.

"Who are you, barging into our room like this?" Angel scoffed.

"You may look like a cutie, but you sure are obnoxious, aren't you kid?" remarked the fully grown pegasus pony. She's obviously trained for ages. Her wings look so strong and amazing. I hope I look as good as that when I grow up...

"_Kid_?" Angel repeated.

"What, do I need to repeat myself? That's what you are, a kid. You'll be one of them for many more years to come in my eyes," she said.

"Ahah!" Featherwing mockingly laughed. She turned to Featherwing, who instantly shut up.

"And is something funny, little missy?" she asked. Featherwing shook her head.

"Who do you think you are?" Angel challenged.

"Last time I checked, I _thought _I was Coco. Still seems legit to me if you ask," said Coco. So that's her name...

"Well do us a favour and get out of our room," Angel said.

"Excuse me? I'm the training instructor here meaning I have more authority than you'll ever have in this place. Got it? I came in here because I heard that petty little argument going on. I don't take sides nor do I hold sympathy for mere subjects, but you really are two stuck up brats." Wow.

"Ugh, did you just call us brats?!" Featherwing exclaimed.

"Apparently I just did. How 'bout you two go scoot on over to the bathroom? It's nearly bed time and I think you need to go wash out your mouth with soap and water," Coco said. Featherwing and Angel rolled their eyes and trotted out of the room. "So kid, do you speak?"  
"Oh... Um... Yes, I do speak. Thank you for-"

"There's no thanks necessary. I was just doing my job of keeping equality here at the Rainbow Factory. Anyhow... What's your name? You got one?"

"I'm... I'm Scootaloo," I replied.

"Well then Scootaloo! It's a pleasure to meet you. Lucky number 48, huh? For all you knew, you could have never been chosen to come here. This place takes flight training very seriously. You'll pull through, right?" Coco asked.

"I'm hoping so," I said.

"And about those poor excuses of a pony... Just ignore them. They'll probably fail the first month," Coco said. I saw a sparkle in her eye when she said 'fail'. Odd... Everything about this whole damn place is odd. "So, do you have any friends back home?"

"I had two friends from Ponyville. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. They were the best friends ever but I think that they didn't like me moving to Cloudsdale for the opening of Rainbow Factory," I replied.

"Oh, I see. Are they pegasus ponies?" Coco wondered. I shook my head.

"They're just magic and earth ponies. Apple Bloom is the earth pony and Sweetie Belle is the magic pony. Thing is, two years ago... I never expected that Apple Bloom would sound so mature. She had the sweetest voice. And even now, I never imagined Sweetie Belle doing excellent magic which aids in her cutie mark career," I said, getting caught up in my own little world.

"They sure do sound special," Coco smiled. "Well, I gotta get going. Fluttershy needs me. Catch you around." She went off in a hurry and she also said that sentence quickly. Did she say... Fluttershy? No. I was probably imagining it. Then again, it would be no surprise if Fluttershy actually was involved here. She's a great flyer, after all! Featherwing and Angel returned to the room moments after Coco left. They glared at me.

"Just because you have your little friend there, it doesn't mean we'll go easy on you," Angel said.

"It doesn't give you a damn advantage if you got a big, strong pegasus on your side! Got it? What Coco doesn't know won't hurt her," Featherwing added. I'm not stupid. I know that fact.

The next few hours seemed to drag. I settled down into my new bed. It wasn't the most comfortable thing in the world but maybe my brain is just making everything here seem horrible. No wonder, with the influence of Angel and Featherwing. I ignored their comments on how early I went to bed. To be honest, it wasn't even early. It was 11pm, the time that I usually went to bed back in Ponyville. I stayed up even longer when it was a week before Rainbow Factory opening. I couldn't sleep because of my excitement. I closed my eyes and blocked out the noises of Angel and Featherwing's talking, music, TV... Is it really necessary to have a TV on this late? Unless they're just trying to keep me awake on purpose; which was probably what they were doing. I grumbled to myself and pulled the blanket over my head.

I don't know how long I was asleep, but I know that I was asleep. I was sleeping quite peacefully, actually... I was having a dream about success. That success consisted of me winning the challenge of the Rainbow Factory. _I had strong wings and sped around the track of the test which was of course all in my head. Rainbow Dash was in the crowd, cheering my name over and over. I heard hooves clapping together and I saw the faces of excited ponies who were in awe of my excellence. This was the weird thing. I even saw Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle in my dream. They weren't cheering my name. They didn't even look happy. I was too busy focusing on them and this caused my back leg to get caught on a jumping fence which sent me tumbling to the ground. The crowd gasped. "N-No...!" I shouted. I had failed. Oh no... What was going to happen to me? The first thing I saw was Rainbow Dash landing beside me and staring down at me. I had failed her..._

_"I'm so disappointed, Scoots. You had it in you... But no! You failed me. You're not just dead to Cloudsdale now, you pathetic pegasus; you're dead to me!" Rainbow Dash yelled. I felt tears grow in my eyes. I looked over at Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, who were now laughing at my misery. I always feared being rejected by my biggest idol and now it was happening. This is a weird part... Rainbow Dash held a bucket full of ice above my head. She dumped it on top of me._

"AAAHHH!" I screamed, my eyes bolting open. A bucket of ice actually _had _been poured over me. By... Oh, of course.

"Ahahah!" I saw Featherwing and Angel fall to the floor with laughter. Ugh, what time is it? And why are they even doing this?!

"Shesototallyfellforit!" Angel shouted, her words coming out extremely fast and mixed together due to her hysterical laughing.

"What a blank flank freak! This is the only thing she'll be worth. How about you get your cutie mark in being a gullible loser?" Featherwing asked, smirking. Ah, forget their attempt at a joke... I brushed the ice off the bed which landed back in the bucket. At least that dream wasn't real. It was such a nightmare; being rejected by the one who I love and see as a big sister. I never really had any family, so Rainbow Dash came extremely close. And the idea of being rejected by her... Well.

"Please, be gullible more often. It gives us the pleasure of laughing at your expense," Angel said. I glanced towards the clock on the wall. 2:35am?! Oh man, how late do these two want to stay up?

"All that laughing at a nobody makes me tired. How unfortunate," Featherwing said.

"Yeah, I'm hitting the hay, I am. Good night, _loser_," Angel replied, glaring my way when she said 'loser'. I chose to ignore them. I won't need them after these three months. Why? Because I'll get through to the third month against somepony who actually matters. Coco is right. They won't survive the first month. Angel and Featherwing finally got into bed. I couldn't sleep now. Why do they have to ruin everything for me? I might talk to Rainbow Dash tomorrow. Maybe she can get my rooms moved since she works here. Within five minutes, Featherwing and Angel were asleep which was surprising. If I was younger, I'd probably make an attempt to prank them back. For a split second, it was extremely tempting, until I heard some sort of machine crank up. It sounded stiff and as though it hadn't been oiled at first, but then it started moving with more control. It wasn't that loud, but I considered myself to have good hearing compared to others. I can hear the slightest sounds, and this sound was one of them. I started hearing more gears of it moving. Why would a piece of factory equipment be fired up at this time in the morning? Surely there's no more use for it right now - Even though it's unknown to me what that piece of machinery actually is. Although it was most likely forbidden to exit rooms at night time, this sound intrigued me and made me curious to know what it was. I made sure that Featherwing and Angel were actually asleep and not just pretending to be asleep so they could prank me again. Okay, so they really are asleep. Good.

I got out of bed as quietly as possible. Even though the two ponies were asleep, they could be woken up easily. Also, I run the risk of waking up any other pony in the block. I crept across the bedroom and reached the door handle. I pulled it down slowly to avoid any noise that might be created from it. I also had to be careful because it was night time, which means the littlest of sounds can be heard with ease. I pushed the door open with my muzzle. Don't ask why, I just do it. Okay? I crept along the corridor, following the source of the noise from the machines. I walked to the very end of the corridor and came to a lift. Really? That seemed kind of... Easy. But if I want to get to somewhere that machines are, there must be a secret place and the lift probably needed to have that secret code put into it. Too bad I don't know it. I pressed the lift button, taking the chance that it would create some noise. To my surprise, the button made no noise, nor did it light up. At first I thought it was broken, but then the doors to the lift opened. I walked into it carefully and scanned the list of rooms on the panel. Floor 1... Floor 2... Floor 3... Floor 4... Wait. Boiler Room? It seems worth taking the chance. I pressed the noiseless button and the doors closed. I expected it to go at a normal pace. But nope. "Ahh!" I gasped, as the lift went shooting downwards at top speed. I nearly toppled over as the lift came crashing to a halt. The doors thudded open and I trotted out. Geez, what a crazy lift. I started to acknowledge what was around me. All sorts of stuff... I could hear the machinery clearer now but I also heard creaking of wood and expanding metal from boilers. It was cold down here.

I continued walking towards the noise of the machinery. It was pitch black too, so that didn't really make me feel comfortable. I considered turning around and going back to where the lift was, but I didn't want to chicken out. I couldn't see too far ahead of me. I squinted my eyes but something bumped into me. "Ah!" I gasped at the same time as the other thing before me. I could see the figure clearly now; another pony. We had bumped into each other and had fallen flat on our flanks.

"My glasses...!" said the pony. It was a female voice. She stood up before me, but it only took me about two seconds to get back up after her. I observed the pony in front of me. A grey and white mane tied up in a side plait, a matching tail, blue glasses and a blue pearl necklace. There's no mistaking it... Was that really...

"Silver Spoon?" I asked.

"I don't believe it... Scootaloo! What are you doing here?" Silver Spoon asked, seeming disgusted.

"I could ask you the same thing," I replied.

"Why are you down here? You little blank flank freak, you'll mess everything up!" Silver Spoon shouted.

"Well hey, don't start yelling at me. You're down here too," I said.

"Because I have a purpose here! Go on, get the hell back to your room before _they _see you," Silver Spoon ordered.

"Who?" I asked.

"Hahah..." came a laugh. Two more ponies emerged from the darkness. They were both tall and dark green and had matching long horns for magic and beautiful, wide wings for flying. The female had a long and flowing white mane with a long tail, and the male had a short white mane with a tail matching the female's. Their eyes were creepily red. Silver Spoon walked in reverse and went behind the two tall ponies.

"W-Who are you?" I asked, starting to feel intimidated by the two ponies. Oh no... What have I got myself into? These ponies could do anything to me!

"Did this kid seriously just ask who we are, Snowflake?" asked the male, looking at the female. The female was Snowflake, it seemed. The two let out an evil laugh, which made me put one back leg behind me, as an instinct. I had to run if it got any worse. I saw a flash of lightning, which reflected its light across the pitch black boiler room. The only thing that stood out with these two were their eyes and manes.

"I believe she did, Snowcone," said Snowflake. And the male was Snowcone.

"P-Please... Don't hurt me. I didn't mean any harm!" I begged.

"Don't worry, we won't hurt you. _Much_," smirked Snowcone. No... No...! I could sense the danger. Why was I so stupid? Why must I be so eager in everything I do? I'm so stupid!

"Come here, sweetie. I wanna see those fabulous wings of yours..." Snowflake whispered, in the softest tone there was. I knew it was put on, however. Snowflake ran her dark green hoof along my wing, which wasn't much bigger than it was two years ago.

"Silver Spoon, what an excellent find. You know, kid, we don't go too lightly on those who are trespassing in areas where foolish little pegasus ponies do not belong, nor are they wanted in those areas," Snowcone said.

"I'm sorry... I just heard the machinery, and-"

"And you stuck your pathetic little muzzle in where it doesn't belong!" Snowcone interrupted, his tone getting angrier. Oh my...

"I really am sorry!" I whined.

"Snowcone, dear brother, let's treat our experiment with some sort of respect. After all, her wings are magnificent," Snowflake said.

"Whatever you say," Snowcone said, letting out a frustrated little sigh.

"So... What's your name, honey?" Snowflake asked.

"S-Scootaloo," I shakily replied.

"What a gorgeous name. Now, Scootaloo... Would you accompany I and my brother through to the main factory room?" Snowflake requested. She didn't seem as harsh as her brother... But can I trust them? Maybe their intentions aren't all that bad.

"W-What are you going to do to me?" I asked.

"We're going to-"

"Shut up!" Snowflake interrupted, cutting off her brother. "Ignore my brother, he can be hot-headed and an irrational idiot at times. We're going to let you take a look at this machinery to fill your heart with wonder. That's what you wanted, right?"

"I guess so..." I mumbled.

"Fantastic!" Snowflake beamed.

"W-What should I do, Snowflake?" Silver Spoon asked.

"Don't ask what you already know, you stupid fool!" Snowflake snapped. Silver Spoon whimpered and rushed on ahead through to the main factory room. It seemed as though Snowcone was biting his tongue the whole way through. "Follow me, Scootaloo." Snowflake and Snowcone started walking back to where they came from. I trotted along beside them, unsure if I was doing the right thing or not. I didn't want to fire up Snowcone, that's for sure. It took a couple of minutes to get to the doors. They were huge, and looked exactly like the doors for the main entrance, yet smaller. Snowcone pushed the door open with her hoof and let me go in first. Oh wow...! It was huge! I stared up to see how big the room was. The room was extremely tall; Snowcone and Snowflake looked tiny compared to the endless amount of room. I observed the main factory room. The machines I heard distantly from my room were now as clear as anything.

"Wow..." I mumbled. "Do you two ponies control all of this by yourself?"

"Yep, with the help of our pegasus device," Snowflake replied. That name sounded awesome! Hehe. The room was filled with splashes of rainbow everywhere. "Now, watch this." I watched as Snowflake went over to the section which contained huge metal pots.

"What's that?" I wondered.

"This is the mixing station, where each individual colour of the Spectra goes. But how a rainbow is made is top secret, unfortunately," Snowflake said.

"Unfortunately..." I heard Snowcone mutter, and also I saw him roll his eyes. Hmm. Snowflake powered up her horn and got a tiny pot of some kind of red paint. It had a rainbow logo on it. She tipped it over Snowcone. "Snowflake!"

"Haha, liven up!" Snowflake laughed.

"Okay, that is sick!" Snowcone snapped, covered in red paint. How is it-? I don't want to know, actually.

"Now watch, Scootaloo. These pots of paint are poured into a special moulding kit which sets the rainbow as a flat piece of... Well, just dried paint, really. From there, it's carried high up there-" Snowflake pointed up with her hoof. "-and then it gets used to the environment, where all the mist and clouds are. It settles there for a couple of minutes and then some special machinery is used to get rid of any extra bits, and finally it's sent through that chute and rushes up to the sky. It's beautiful, isn't it?"

"It really is... So _that's _how rainbows are made! Ooh! Ooh! Can I make one?!" I exclaimed, getting over-excited.

"Well... I think it's time you head on over to bed," Snowflake said, hesitating.

"Aww!" I whined.

"Sorry, Scootaloo. Maybe some other time, okay? After the first month is up, we send out a celebration rainbow which is extra special for those unfortunate ponies who lost the competition. Maybe you could help out on that," Snowflake replied.

"You think I'll make it past the first month?" I asked.

"Why of course. Well go on then, off to bed! I'll accompany you if you wish," Snowflake offered.

"No, Snowflake! It's fine, Silver Spoon offered. Didn't you?" Snowcone asked. Silver Spoon darted up to Snowcone and Snowflake.

"Y-Yes, sir! Of course, sir!" Silver Spoon said.

"Ah, I see. Well, okay. Good night," Snowflake greeted. Silver Spoon opened the door and let me out first. I left the factory and then Silver Spoon shut the door behind her. I heard Snowcone and Snowflake talking just slightly.

"Why did you let her go?! We could have added to our collection of wings!" What...? No. I'm probably just mishearing because of being up for so long.

"So... How did you like the Rainbow Factory's main room?" Silver Spoon asked. She sounded tired.

"It was fantastic! Seeing how rainbows are made," I said.

"Yep... Pretty interesting," Silver Spoon said.

"So what made you come here? I mean, since you're not a pegasus," I asked.

"Oh. It's something I have to do for community service. I volunteered and stuff, but I never imagined I'd be here. You see, me and Diamond Tiara had an argument a few months ago, so I've been trying to keep my mind away from crawling back to her. As I see it now, I'm glad that we had that fight. It made me realise how bad she was. And I apologise for calling you a blank flank earlier; I was just annoyed at old memories coming back to me. About Snowcone and Snowflake... They're always horrible to me. They said if I mess up my job, they'd make a rainbow out of me. I'm not exactly sure what that means, because whenever they were making rainbows during the day, they told me to get out of the room and go clean up the office or something," Silver Spoon explained.

"Make a rainbow out of you...? That's... Weird," I said.

"Isn't it? I really don't want to work here. The machinery constantly running and those mysterious little shouts I hear at night sometimes... Also, I go to bed at 4am, due to Snowcone and Snowflake's commands. It makes me really sleep deprived, but I just have to do it in case they decide to 'make a rainbow out of me' or something," Silver Spoon replied.

"I wish I wasn't in the room that I'm in. Do you know Featherwing and Angel?" I asked.

"No, I don't," Silver Spoon said.

"Oh... They're horrible to me. I have no friends here," I sighed.

"Well, it's a compliment if Snowflake thought you could survive the first month. The way I look at it, you don't need friends in a place like this," Silver Spoon said.

"Silver Spoon... Do you think we'd ever be friends?" I shyly asked. It was worth asking.

"Who, you and me? F-Friends? No way... I'd never be friends with you! Just... Just get the hell back to your room, okay?!" Silver Spoon snapped, embarrassed.

"Silver Spoon, I'm sorry!" I tried. Way to go...

"Just go!" she demanded. I sighed and pressed the button for the lift. Silver Spoon trotted off. I could hear the echo of her hooves as she went off. The lift doors opened and I stepped in to it. I pressed for Floor 1 and it went at normal speed when going up. Luckily. I was tired now and just wanted to get some hours of sleep. It was 3:10am when I saw the clock outside of the lift down at the Boiler Room. I made my way silently through the corridor and back to my room. I accidentally slammed the door, forgetting all that I had previously done. What, am I some kind of mindless idiot now?! Geez Scootaloo, what's your problem! Angel and Featherwing jumped awake. Angel rubbed her eyes and Featherwing yawned.

"Hey, you! Blank flank freak, where do you think you've been?!" Angel demanded.

"I... I went out for some water," I lied, but made myself sound convincing.

"Ugh, well next time, just dehydrate! It saves us the trouble of waking up because of you slamming the door shut at full force," Featherwing snapped. I ignored her and simply went back in my bed. Ah, sweet comfortable bed... Wait. I feel ice. FOR THE LOVE OF-

_~TimeSkip!~_

I found myself half awake because of the sound of a drum being banged against loudly and a trumpet playing some sort of bizarre tune. Why... Why does it feel like I've only slept for ten minutes? I glanced over at the clock. 8am? Lies! That was NOT five hours! I swear, it was not! Angel and Featherwing woke up, grumbling. "Uugh! Turn off your alarm clock, you blank flank freak..." groaned Angel.

"If it were my alarm clock - Which I don't have - It would be louder and much more annoying to guarantee your anger being sparked," I bluntly said, just as tired as them.

"Why do we have to be up so damn early for?" Featherwing demanded, shoving the blanket off her. I got out of bed first, followed by Featherwing and Angel. I resisted the urge to laugh at how ridiculous their manes looked. Daaang, somepony's been tossing and turning. The drums and trumpet eventually stopped.

"I wish that sometimes I had a horn to do my mane for me," Angel complained, grabbing stray clips with her mouth from her mane. There's one thing I never forget to take around with me. It's a magic-lookalike brush. Sweetie Belle gave it to me for my birthday last year. What you do is, you press a button on it and it levitates by itself and looks like magic is actually being used on it. However, it's a rare thing, so hardly anypony knows what it is. Sweetie Belle got it off Rarity, but she really wasn't interested in it. So, I got it. I picked it up in my mouth off the side of my cabinet and bit down into the button that starts it. I pretended to control it with an invisible horn, to fool Featherwing and Angel.

"Hummhummhumm..." I mumbled. I brushed my mane with it. I saw Angel and Featherwing stare at me.

"How are you doing that?" Featherwing asked, confused.

"Doing what?" I replied. I was very convincing, so I could keep that smirk off my face.

"How are you using that brush without any magic?" Angel asked. I controlled it to go back in my mouth and then I secretly bit down on the button. I took it out. Another great thing is, it's magic proof. So if anypony wants to try it with magic... Hah! Good luck.

"Wanna try it for yourself?" I asked, putting it forward. Angel snatched it before Featherwing could take it. She tried her best to 'control' it with 'magic', but it of course failed.

"This stupid thing's broken!" Angel snapped.

"You're using it wrong, that's why, idiot!" Featherwing shouted, and grabbed the brush off Angel. I tried my best not to laugh. Featherwing also tried. It didn't work, which annoyed her.

"It's fine. Not everypony can use it like I." I took the brush and put it in my mouth and pretended to fuss with my mane before using it again. I bit down on the button and popped it out of my mouth. The button is on the inside too, so you need a good eye to see it. I giggled to myself and made it go on the table. I made it land on top of something to stop it from levitating. Genius!

"Ugh, whatever. I didn't want it anyway," Featherwing scoffed.

"Yes you did, you jealous freak," Angel scornfully said.

"Jealous? What would I be jealous of? Just because you actually fell for that stupid brush trick!" Featherwing shouted.

"You fell for it too, moron!" Angel argued.

"Oh yeah?!" Featherwing exclaimed, and yanked on Angel's tail. She whimpered loudly. Oh god, this is gold. Payback at its best!

"What was that for?!" Angel demanded.

"For you being an airhead!" Featherwing replied.

"You're gonna have no tail by the end of today!" Angel threatened, and pulled hard on Featherwing's tail with her mouth.

"Oooowwch!" Featherwing squealed.

"LADIES!" snapped a female's voice. I looked at the door, to see Coco standing there. Oh phew... It's only Coco. "Honestly, you're acting like a bunch of fillies! Didn't you hear the freaking announcement? All ponies out on the main field, NOW! Move your sorry little flanks before I kick them there myself! Oh, of course not you, Scoots." Coco winked at me and I smiled. I trotted proudly out of my room and followed Coco down to the main field.

"Thanks for getting us outta that one, Coco," I laughed.

"No problem! Looks like I stumbled upon a fight, huh? What happened?" Coco asked.

"I dunno. They were arguing over a silly little brush that does levitating without magic," I replied.

"Hahaha! That's a priceless way to get them two ponies back for their rude behaviour! I'm sorry - That's just so funny! Ahh, kid, you're brilliant," Coco said. I giggled. We arrived at the main field in five minutes. It was huge and very grassy - It also consisted of lots of jumping fences, tracks, and other training related items. This wasn't going to be an easy competition, was it? I had never seen anything like it in my life. I was prepared of course, but... The Rainbow Factory would be the biggest challenge of all time for me, wouldn't it? I was so ready! I made my way over to the crowd of ponies that had formed a circle around Coco. She stood in the middle, making a clipboard levitate to the side of her, and a hoof-held microphone to the other side of her.

"Hello, everypony, and welcome to the Rainbow Factory. This is your first month, and you're all lucky little ponies. Just because you were chosen it does not mean you're any better or any worse than me; it means you have the ability to do anything you want here. I'm not better than all of you ponies here. No no... In fact, we're on the same level of ability. I've just been trained for years which required hard work and determination. That just makes me more able than you in terms of intelligence to do with flying. However, that is not a bad thing at all. You're here so we can start building up your intellectual ability for being the best pegasus at this factory! If you don't make it past this month's training, then you are simply not fit to be a pegasus of full potential. These tasks may seem hard, but they are technically very easy if you have the determination," Coco explained. I listened thoroughly; acknowledging all of the information as much as I could. It was pretty simple in small talk. We can pass, just as long as we stick to it the best we can. I knew that I could do it. I had faith in myself.

After fifteen minutes of being introduced to the ins and outs of Rainbow Factory, Coco led us all over to the first task. "We are now going to test your abilities of being able to clear some clouds using swift wing motions, to fly dodging any obstacles, to fall - this means you must be able to drop when required and lastly, to complete the track. One by one, you will have thirty seconds to a minute to do this," Coco said. Oh boy... I hope I can do this. Rainbow Dash taught me how to clear clouds a couple of times, she taught me how to avoid anything in my way, but I'm not sure about the whole falling part. "First - Moon Beam. Clear; fly; fall; complete." The first pony, Moon Beam, walked shakily up to the starting point. She was a dark blue colour, sometimes associated with night time. Her cutie mark was a moon which had its light glimmering brightly. Moon Beam stretched her wings and prepared. "Well? We haven't got all day!"

"S-Sorry..." she whispered. It was deadly silent, so we could hear everything that went on. Moon Beam lifted herself up by her wings and began racing forward. I could see where this was going. She was going far too fast. She managed to clear all of the clouds.

"Clear!" Moon Beam looked like she was getting ahead of herself; the 'whooosh' of her wings beating against the air provided the evidence to that claim. An obstacle popped quickly in front of her, and she smacked straight into it.

"AHH!" Everypony gasped. Moon Beam fell to the ground. I heard the sickening 'clink' of a broken tooth falling to the ground.

"Simply uncalled for... Go on, get over to the side before you do any more bloody damage," Coco scowled. Moon Beam trailed over to the side, her head hanging low. "Second - Silver Cloud. Clear; fly; fall; complete." The second pony went up to the starting point. He looked confident. I watched as he picked himself up with his wings and flew off at a steady pace. He cleared the clouds with ease and passed the obstacles in a breeze. "Clear! Fly!" Silver Cloud started picking up speed and came to start his fall stage. However, he quickly lost control and smashed to the ground. Oh my... This is some tough competition. People keep falling. One by one, I saw ponies pass and fail. Only fifteen completed the course easily, yet twenty failed. They needed training, clearly. However, I wasn't one to judge, since I hadn't been yet.

"Featherwing. Clear; fly; fall; complete." It was Featherwing's turn. I wondered how she would do. I mightn't care for her all that much since she's a bully, but... I wonder how good her flying was.

"I am so ready to do this," I heard Featherwing say. She prepared herself and then picked herself up with great elegance. She gracefully, yet with speed, cleared the clouds.

"Clear!" Featherwing looked as sharp as ever, keeping an eye on everywhere in front of her. At any moment, an obstacle could pop up out of nowhere. However, it seemed as though she had cleared all of the obstacles. Coco didn't shout out 'Fly!' though. A sudden obstacle sprung up, and smacked right into Featherwing's left wing. I heard a crack noise, a crunch then a loud thud. Everypony was silent.

"My wing!" Featherwing screeched, sounding as though she was in agony. Her crying was loud and she wailed loudly. Had she broken her wing? Oh god. That's the worst thing that could happen. Coco didn't seem to care, and just left Featherwing there in agony.

"Move out of the way, you stupid pony! You're blocking the way for others!" Coco snapped.

"I've broken my wing...!" Featherwing cried.

"Move now, you poor excuse of a pegasus, before the other one is broken too!" Coco threatened. Featherwing somehow got up and walked off the track. Nopony was brave enough to help poor Featherwing. I felt sorry for her, to be honest. It must be awful... Is this what the Rainbow Factory is like? A place of where help is shunned upon? It better not be...

"Aren't you even going to help her?" asked Angel, all of a sudden.

"Excuse me? Did you just interfere when this business is not your own?" Coco asked.

"Are you just gonna sit here on your fat flank when my best friend is in excruciating pain?!" Angel growled, growing angrier by the second. Her voice was shaky, it was obvious she was going to cry herself. All we could do was watch, unfortunately.

"Aww, how pathetically cute!" Coco patronisingly commented.

"Don't ignore me!" Angel screeched.

"Okay, I've had enough of your god damn back talk. Rainbow Dash, take these two little freaks away! Now!" Coco ordered. Rainbow Dash...? She came flying down to where Angel and Featherwing were.

"Right, you two. You better follow me, and you better do it NOW before you have two broken wings each and no sanity left to spare!" Rainbow Dash snapped. No...! Why is Rainbow Dash doing this? Angel and Featherwing whimpered.

"I can't fly properly..." Featherwing whispered.

"Tough crap!" Rainbow Dash yelled. They eventually got away and training was resumed. What have I just seen happening to Rainbow Dash? I tried not to dwell on it. It would only pain me even more. I've just seen the true colours of Rainbow Factory... And I don't like them.

"Okay. Next up is Scootaloo. Ah! Scoots. Good luck, kid!" Coco laughed.

"Heh, thanks," I said, putting on my best fake laugh. I prepared myself. No way would I let myself fail now. I'm not gonna piss off Coco, even if she does like me more than anypony here. I prepared myself, and surprisingly, my wings picked me up and I was flying swiftly. I cleared the clouds.

"Clear!" I saw the obstacles popping out left, right and centre but did my best to actually avoid them. I was surprised at myself. "Fly!" I dropped at an appropriate level and managed to do a backflip-loop in one, which made the crowd gasp. Wooah! Since when could I do that? I kept myself only inches from the ground. "Fall!" I went back to proper flight level and landed swiftly at the finishing point. "And complete! Way to go, Scoots!"

"Hah! I actually did it! Yes!" I exclaimed. Thank you, my wings of awesomeness! I flew over to the rest of the winners.

"What are you looking so excited for?" asked Silver Cloud, glaring at me. I gulped.

"N-No particular reason..." I mumbled.

The rest of the ponies took their turn and the first task was over. The only ponies who were taken away were Angel and Featherwing. Everypony else remained where they were. I have to admit, I was pretty concerned for the two of them.

We were dismissed at 12pm, in time for lunch. I decided to stop on over by my room first, to see if Angel and Featherwing were returned there. I pushed open the door, expecting the two of them to yell at me for interrupting, but... Nopony was there. I walked into the room with my back facing the door. I jumped, hearing the door shut behind me. I turned around. "O-Oh! Silver Spoon... It's you..." I said.

"I hate to tell you this, but..." Silver Spoon mumbled. "You and your friends are going to die."

Word count: 9323 (maybe more, maybe less. depends on the accuracy of the word counter. Well, that's all for chapter one!)


	2. Factory Secrets

The next day opened. The second day of training at the Rainbow Factory; the third overall. Featherwing and Angel had came back but remained silent nearly always. I guess they wouldn't want to talk because of the painful memories of the incident. I don't know why, but I suddenly started to remember what happened yesterday. As in, what Silver Spoon said. Did it really happen? Because it was weird how she said it. Did she mean it...? That ponies die here? I don't want to think about it, to be honest. It's creepy. A knock came at the door. "Whoever it is, get lost!" Angel demanded. The door swung open and I set eyes upon Rainbow Dash. Angel instantly shut up and Featherwing stared at the floor.

"Hiya Rainbow Dash!" I greeted.

"Heyya, kid! Listen, I need to talk to you for a couple of minutes. Okay?" Rainbow Dash asked. Angel was staring at I and Rainbow Dash. What's wrong with her? I don't remember much of yesterday. I have a bad memory when it comes to remembering anything terrible that happened.

"Sure." I followed Rainbow Dash out of the room. She closed the door and stood looking at me. She seemed serious.

"Do you remember yesterday?" Rainbow Dash asked. I thought for a couple of seconds, then I remembered. How Rainbow Dash screamed at Featherwing and Angel; acting like the harshest pony ever.

"Oh... That..." I mumbled.

"I'm sorry if you thought I looked like a bad pony. It's my job to keep order here at the Rainbow Factory. I'm sorry. I was having a bad day already and... Yeah. I didn't mean to shout at your two pals like that," Rainbow Dash said. Why does everypony think we're friends?!

"They really aren't my friends, but yeah... It's fine. Honestly," I replied.

"Good. Nothing was going my way yesterday, and that really annoyed me," Rainbow Dash said.

"It's okay."

"Speaking of the Rainbow Factory in general... Want a tour of the factory? Coco's gonna take everypony around today in an hour from now, but that'll just be boring and dragged on for way too long. I, however, can take you around and show you all the cool parts and skip the boring parts! Not that there's any boring parts here, but it's just fun to look at how the factory operates," Rainbow Dash offered.

"Yeah! That sounds awesome!" I replied, getting excited. My own idol showing me around... Okay, so it isn't all that exciting but it's exciting to me.

"So when Coco rounds you all up, I'll take you off her hands and we'll pick up the tour ourselves, going in a reverse schedule of Coco's tour," Rainbow Dash replied.

"Sounds good! Oh! By the way. Have you seen Silver Spoon around? She said something odd to me yesterday but I didn't see her since. Know where she is?" I asked. Rainbow Dash paused, obviously thinking of a reply.

"Silver Spoon...Silver Spoon..." she mumbled. "Nope. Haven't seen her. Sorry."

"Oh no problem. But do you know where she might be?" I asked.

"Probably over at the main factory room. Do you know where that is?" Rainbow Dash replied.

"Um I think," I said.

"It's just along these corridors. Follow me." Rainbow Dash flapped her wings and picked herself up a bit to fly ahead. I just walked beside her, not risking my luck with my wings. Yesterday in training was probably just a coincidence or pure luck or whatever. I'm not a good flyer. Definitely not. Rainbow Dash was silent as she led me through to the main factory room. I'm sure the main factory room was down at the Boiler Room... We're going nowhere near to where the lift was. About a couple of minutes later, we came to the doors of a normal looking room. Rainbow Dash knocked on the door. Silver Spoon was the one who opened the door.

"Yes, Rainbow Dash?" Silver Spoon asked.

"Scootaloo wants to talk to you about something. Well, gotta dash! Catch you around, Scoots." And with that, Rainbow Dash flew off. Silver Spoon shut the factory door behind her.

"Well?" Silver Spoon asked, losing her intimidation that she seemed to have around Rainbow Dash. Attitude...

"Well, this is about what you said to me yesterday. At dinner time, right? You said something about my and my friends dying... What the hell are you on about, may I ask?" I replied.

"What? I never said that. You must just be dreaming," Silver Spoon said.

"No! I wasn't dreaming it. I remember it precisely; you said I'm going to die! You... You sounded all weird, and-Ahh, that's not the point! What my point is, why are you denying it? If it's your idea of a joke then it's ridiculous," I replied.

"I have no idea what you're on about, you blank flank." With that, Silver Spoon opened the door and went back into the factory.

"Wait, I-!" She slammed the door in my face. "Ohh, well...Hmphwhatanattitudequeen!Andmanwhata..." I grumbled to myself, turning away from the factory door. An hour of boredom had passed and Coco came around all of the rooms telling everypony to gather down at the main entrance so the tour could begin. Featherwing and Angel didn't say anything to me. All they did was glare at me, like it was my fault that Rainbow Dash was horrible to them. There was the usual crowd of ponies. I could see that from when everypony was outside training yesterday.

"Hey Coco! Can I take a pony off your hands?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Who?" Coco wondered.

"Scoots, let's get moving, kid!" called Rainbow Dash.

"Oh. Okay, no problem. The rest of you stay put." I walked to the front of the crowd awkwardly and stood beside Rainbow Dash.

"Let's go!" Rainbow Dash laughed. I and Rainbow Dash walked through the factory. Well. I walked; she flew. "You know, you are allowed to fly in here."

"Oh... I'm just scared in case my stupid wings make me fall flat on my flank."

"Nah! You're a good flyer. I got a glance of your performance yesterday. You did really good!" Rainbow Dash complimented. I felt embarrassed because I knew I didn't deserve that compliment.

"Thanks... I... I guess I could try," I said. I flapped my wings and picked myself up. I kept control of my wings the best I could and surprisingly, I didn't fall down. "Hah! I can do it!"

"Awesome! Now come on, let's get moving. First up, we have the paint room. Here, we experiment with different ways to form rainbows. So basically, we could create new colours for it and stuff, which looks pretty awesome in the long run," Rainbow Dash said. She showed me how to control different things inside of the paint room. The rest of the tour was just Rainbow Dash and I messing around and going through each of the factory rooms. There was one final place. Rainbow Dash took us to the lift.

"Where to now?" I asked.

"Well, there's this one place... Nah. I don't think I should," Rainbow Dash said.

"Why, what is it?" I wondered.

"It doesn't matter. Sorry, I don't think it's a place that the tour would have covered any way," Rainbow Dash replied.

"Oh. Okay then, no problem," I said. I have to admit, I was curious to what this place was. Was it the actual factory room that Snowflake and Snowcone ran? I decided not to push it anyway.

"How about you go on over to your room? I think you can just do what you want until about 3pm. From there, the next flying session takes place," Rainbow Dash said.

"Oh... I was hoping to spend more time with you," I replied, feeling as though she was pushing me away.

"Sorry, kid. I need to carry on with my own work." I sighed and walked forward a couple of steps. I stopped, though.

"No, it's not okay! What job is so important that you have to be there all of the time?!" I exclaimed, turning to face Rainbow Dash. However, she was gone. "What...?" Where did she go in the space of five seconds? I swear she was just behind me. She couldn't have gone anywhere either, because there _was _nowhere else to go, unless you turned back around in the direction I was going. Whaaat?! I shook my head and turned back around. I continued walking as if nothing happened. No point in focusing on it.

_Third Person's Point Of View_

Rainbow Dash hadn't disappeared like a magician or anything like that. She had no horn to do magic. She had snuck into the lift behind her while Scootaloo was making her way down to where her room was. Rainbow Dash didn't know that she had stopped, though. _I feel so bad, lying to Scootaloo... Nah. I can't focus on it. It's a tough world, unfortunately, _Rainbow Dash thought. She made her way down to the Boiler Room and headed right. This was the way to the room that Rainbow Dash worked in. It was a mysterious place. Nopony ever got in if they stayed on their best behavior, but one little slip-up and you're never getting out. Rainbow Dash didn't control that room all on her own. No... It wasn't a job for just one pony. She was working side-by-side with another pony.

Diamond Tiara.

This pony who once bullied Scootaloo, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle had landed a position in working at the Rainbow Factory. She had the perfect attitude of course. Diamond Tiara was the one who picked up her rotten behavior during her time of work off Rainbow Dash. These two ponies were excellent at masking their horrible behavior. For this job, they would need to mask this, though. Rainbow Dash slung open the door of the room which she worked in. Diamond Tiara was screeching at a pony. She slammed the door behind her, as the sweet sound of desperate ponies, begging for their lives cried out. "Will you tell this pathetic pony over here to quit whining? He's been complaining all damn day!"

"Listen you! Quit whining and freaking get used to it!" Rainbow Dash yelled. The ponies were ones who had been captured, unknown to how they were captured. They weren't from Cloudsdale, but they were pegasus ponies.

"Please... Can't you just let me out?" sniffled the pony, who was only young. His eyes were heavy and his wings were weak. They were in cages spread out far across the room. These cages hung from the ceiling and below was a bottomless pit. One bad move and these ponies were history, no questions asked. It was a pitch black room, much like the inside of a cave. The walls were made from rock and the cages were rusty metal. They could snap at any time, provided they were 'accidentally' hit against.

"Just shut your damn mouth!" Diamond Tiara threw a rock off the cage and it shook from where it hung. The pony in the cage looked terrified. "Aww, are you scared?"

"Y-yes..."

"Good! It'll teach you a lesson! Keep it zipped." Diamond Tiara did not have the wings of a pegasus, nor did she have a horn. So how she got a job at Rainbow Factory was completely unknown. Diamond Tiara of course knew, but it wasn't relevant at this point.

"Man... I'm sick of hearing these ponies complaining. You'd think after months of being here, they'd shut up," Rainbow Dash said.

"I always wanted to ask... How did you end up working here? No offence, but I thought you liked defending those three blank flanks. Well, only one loser remains but whatever," Diamond Tiara said.

"Oh. Well, working your way to the top of Cloudsdale is pretty stressful. I had to deal with all the crap that my ex-best friends gave me. The only one I still see is Fluttershy. Anyway, with having to do the best job ever and people always drooling over how great you are at doing weather control, it gets pretty darn annoying. Since I was doing it for years, I got really ticked off about it and obviously had a lot of anger inside of me. When I learned what Rainbow Factory was, it made me feel good, to be honest. They offered me a job because of my high authority in Cloudsdale, so I took it. The best way to get my anger out is yelling at those who are truly pathetic," Rainbow Dash explained.

"I see. Well, they were just looking out for people with an attitude. I'm not one to lie - I'm one hell of an attitude queen! My beautiful tiara sure does prove it," Diamond Tiara said, gesturing towards the tiara resting on top of her mane.

"Well, it does my head in, all of these ponies whining but it makes me feel good to get my anger out," Rainbow Dash replied.

"You're sick! You'll never know what it's like to be in this situation!" yelled a pony, who was now involving herself in their conversation. It was a grown pony, who didn't like the idea of two children doing such a thing to them. "You're children, for pony's sake! What gives you the right to do this?"

"What gives you the right to butt into our conversation?" Diamond Tiara challenged.

"If my horn weren't broken, I'd be out of here, I tell you! You stupid pegasus ponies are lucky that it is broken," replied the pony. It was true; her horn had snapped. The tip of it had fell off because of her constant attempts to bust out of the cage. When it happened, Diamond Tiara and Rainbow Dash were laughing evilly at her, cackling like witches. The pony's horn had spikes at the end where the horn should be finished. It was difficult to fix broken horns. Only an alicorn or unicorn of high power could fix them and even then, it took them some hard work.

"Oh, I'm sure we are so very lucky," Diamond Tiara sarcastically remarked.

"Two dumb children shouldn't be allowed such power. It turns them into psychopathic killers, especially in this dull place," said the pony.

"Are you done yapping yet? Nobody here gives a flying f-"

"Rainbow Dash!" interrupted Silver Spoon, rushing through the doors.

"Silver Spoon works here?!" Diamond Tiara exclaimed.

"Yes, Silver Spoon?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"I was told to pass this onto you - Scootaloo needs you right now!" Silver Spoon shouted.

"Whoa, is she okay?" Rainbow Dash wondered, starting to get hyped up.

"I don't know, but Coco sounded worried," Silver Spoon replied.

"Oh god... I hope Scoots is okay!" Rainbow Dash shouted. She picked herself up and flew off at top speed. She rushed around the long corridors which had secret stairs leading to upstairs, panicking. Scootaloo was like her sister and she'd hate for anything to happen to her. Rainbow Dash eventually came to Scootaloo's room. She burst open the door, to see three ponies all in different situations. Angel was holding back Featherwing, Featherwing looked ready to attack Scootaloo, and Scootaloo was... Crying.

"Let go of me! She's crossed the line, that pathetic little freak!" Featherwing demanded.

"Break it up, you lot! Now!" Rainbow Dash demanded.

_Scootaloo's Point Of View_

I was just sitting in my room, minding my own business. Angel and Featherwing, as usual, were picking on me. They were saying all sorts of things, like how I haven't got a cutie mark and usual stuff like that. "Haha! I'm surprised her cutie mark isn't broken. I mean, wow! Two whole years of being talentless? That's definitely broken!" Featherwing said. And then I just burst out with it.

"It's not as broken as your wing." I don't know why I said it, but I did. Featherwing was just driving me crazy with all of her stupid insults that she thought was clever, all because the sheep behind her was kissing her damn flank. In a split second, Featherwing was coming towards me, anger in her eyes.

"We'll see how you like a broken wing!" Featherwing snapped. She backed me up in a corner of the room.

"Featherwing, don't!" Angel shouted, trying to control her friend. I didn't know what she was going to do, until she did it. With both of her hooves strongly gripped on my wing, she bent it up and down and yanked on it hard. I felt tears grow in my eyes. Angel was trying to pull Featherwing off me but she wasn't succeeding, and Featherwing was only shoving me all over the room, in an attempt to break my wing. She got the very top of my wing, where it was attached to my body, and pulled it as hard as she could. I heard a crack in my wing, then seconds later, came agonising pain.

"Ahh! My wing!" I shouted, tears beginning to stream down my face. Angel had got a tight hold of Featherwing, but it had already been done.

"How do you like having a broken wing, huh? Isn't it just freaking fantastic?!" Featherwing growled, completely losing her temper.

"Featherwing, just let it go, you idiot! You've just broken her wing!" Angel ordered.

"Don't tell me what to do - Let go of me, NOW!" Featherwing demanded. Angel kept a strong grip on her. I was experiencing possibly the worst pain ever. It was stabbing, throbbing and it felt like the wing muscles were just snapping in half every two seconds. It was terrible. "Let go of me! She's crossed the line, that pathetic little freak!" Then the door slammed open.

"Break it up, you lot! Now!" demanded none other than Rainbow Dash.

"Get the hell out of the room, this doesn't concern you!" Featherwing shouted.

"R-Rainbow... D-Dash... It hurts...!" I whined, losing rapid control of my tears.

"Featherwing, you already know the consequences of being a bad pony. This crosses the line!" Rainbow Dash said. Angel slapped Featherwing.

"ARE YOU DONE YET?" She breathed in and out heavily, and let go of Featherwing. She was stunned.

"Angel... I-"

"Shut your damn mouth! I'm done."

"Scootaloo, come outside with me. We need to see what happened here," Rainbow Dash said. I sniffed and nodded. We went outside of the room and Rainbow Dash closed the door. "Okay. What happened?"

"W-Well, I-I... Angel and Featherwing were being mean to me again, and started saying I was talentless because I have no cutie mark, a-and then I just said 'it's not as broken as your wing', because I couldn't take their teasing any longer, so Featherwing grabs my wing and starts shoving me around, pulling my wing muscles and then my wing was just... B-Broken!" I explained, rushing my words. I was starting to cry again.

"Ugh! The nerve of that Featherwing! Come on, we're getting you straight to the medical section," Rainbow Dash said. I nodded and followed her to where the medical section was. We arrived there in about five minutes, because I could barely walk and also because of how far it was from the main rooms. Rainbow Dash knocked on the door. A cheerful looking pony opened it within seconds.

"Ah, Rainbow Dash! How may I help you today?" she asked. She had a cherry coloured mane and a dark red coat. Her cutie mark was a cherry. Well that's all too obvious. Let me guess - Her name is Cherry?

"Hello, Cherry. Well, you see, we've had a bit of a purpose incident. Scootaloo here got her wing broken by another pony, but not to worry. It'll be taken care of. Is there any way to fix it up?" Rainbow Dash replied.

"Of course there is! Come right through, dears," said Cherry, who was far too cheery. We entered the medical room and I was shocked at its size. It was really big, like every other room in the Rainbow Factory. It was full of staff and some other ponies who probably went here. Cherry led us through to an examination room. "Now, it's okay if we perform a quick scan just to verify what the problem is, yes?"

"Yes, that's fine," said Rainbow Dash, filling in for me. I wasn't in much of a mood or state to answer for myself. I'm glad Rainbow Dash is here. Cherry led me over to a machine with a green screen on it. It came up with the bones and muscles inside of my wing. Cherry examined closely.

"Hmm... Okay. Well, as you can see here-" She pointed with a little stick thingy, "-the bones look like they've snapped in half. That isn't right. It's definitely broken, unfortunately."

"Can it be healed? She really needs it for flying," Rainbow Dash said.

"Unfortunately, like all broken bones, it takes time to heal. About four weeks at the least," Cherry replied.

"Four weeks?!" Rainbow Dash nearly choked. " But her final test is in four weeks! This determines her future here at the Rainbow Factory, and my little Scoots is NOT going home empty handed!"

"I'm sorry, but-"

"But nothing! Do something to fix it! I'm begging you!" Rainbow Dash interrupted. Cherry sighed.

"There's one spell I know of, but I'm not sure if it would be fair on other injured students."

"Do it! Now!" Rainbow Dash demanded. Cherry was hesitant. She finally decided to go ahead and perform the healing spell. I stepped away from the machine and stood, waiting. Cherry closed her eyes for full concentration and her horn lit up with light blue magic. Within seconds, I felt the pain flood away from my wing. I felt a little guilty about gaining an advantage, but I didn't concentrate on it too much, simply because I was grateful for the work that Cherry did for me. "All fixed up! How do you feel?"

"Much better. Thanks Rainbow Dash - And of course, thanks Cherry," I said. Cherry smiled.

"I'm gonna have a chat later with Featherwing," Rainbow Dash said as we left the medical room. "But for now, go and enjoy your training."

"Will do!" I replied. I flew off and made my way to the training area outside. I landed and took my place amongst a crowd of ponies. I think I was late. I saw Featherwing glare at me.

"How did you fix your wing so easily?" she scowled.

"Because I have ponies who care for me. Unlike you... You have nopony to care for you," I replied.

"What, because you used somepony to get your wing fixed? What a wimp. You'd rather take out the easy option than wait out the pain," Featherwing said.

"You may be right. I am a wimp. But do you really want to fail the factory?" I asked.

"If I fail, then I fail. I don't care, I'll just try out again next time," Featherwing replied.

"Idiot!" interrupted Moon Beam. She approached Featherwing.

"What?" Featherwing asked.

"Idiot. You won't be able to just 'try out' again. Do you have any idea what goes on here if you fail?" Moon Beam replied.

"Hold it... What do you mean, Moon Beam?" I questioned.

"Like you'd understand... We got lucky last time. Manechester was destroyed! You're sealing your own fate, ponies of Cloudsdale. You're just playing into the hands of the two evil heads that feed the rainbow machine," Moon Beam replied.

"What the hell are you on about?" Feeatherwing snapped.

"Okay everypony, be quiet!" demanded Coco, her voice shutting the crowd up. "Now. What we're going to do now is go through each of the ponies who failed their first attempt. It's important to keep trying because the fact is, this is an extremely simple obstacle course, and there's been countless injuries due to lack of attention. Can the ponies who succeeded please observe at the side? As for everypony who failed, they will try again and again until they can do it, injury or not. So first up shall be Moon Beam," Coco announced. I went over to the winner side and sat amongst the other ponies who had won. Moon Beam walked up to the start, looking much more determined than before. She took off within seconds, and everypony watched her, wondering what would happen. "Clear!" Moon Beam proceeded on to dodging all of the obstacles with intense concentration. You could see it all over her face. "Fly!" Moon Beam fell appropriately and then picked herself up with ease. "Fall!" Moon Beam finally came to the end of the course. "And complete! Well done, Moon Beam. You did a much better job than before, and I hope you don't feel too bad about your tooth. Accidents do happen, and you were brave about it. That bravery formed into determination to push yourself to the limit; which you did perfectly. Excellent job and an amazing example! Thank you."

"Phew..." Moon Beam mumbled. She went over to the winner crowd. There were ten left to go. Each one of them went out with determination and surprised themselves by winning. There was only one pony remaining at the end of it all.

"Lastly, Featherwing. Clear; fly; fall; complete. Are you able to fly?" Coco asked.

"I'm gonna have to, aren't I?" Featherwing replied, staring at the ground. Featherwing picked herself up, supporting herself with only one wing. Her balance was slipping but she was continuing somehow. She cleared the clouds.

"Clear!" Featherwing focused entirely on her surroundings in the sky. She looked like she wasn't going to fail; and she had passed all obstacles. "Fly!" Featherwing proceeded to fall, nearly losing her balance and actually falling over. She picked herself back up, doing a circle shape in the air. "Fall!" She raced through to the finish line. "And complete."

"I'm glad I could do it," Featherwing said. I noticed that Angel wasn't congratulating her or anything. In fact, Featherwing trotted right past Angel. Looks like they weren't friends any more, because of what happened earlier. I decided to block that incident from my mind. It was painful and something unforgettable, but I can't go remembering this later on when I'm meant to be focusing on succeeding Rainbow Factory. So I'll just continue on as normal.

"Congratulations, all. You did much better than your first attempt. However, in future, I wish to see all of you succeeding at attempt number one. It is important to do this, because you have no second chances on the final test for this month," Coco said. "I will now hand you over to Fluttershy, who will go through some flying exercises with you." Fluttershy? So she does work here. Coco walked over to the side and observed. Fluttershy was now a strong looking pony.

"Hello everypony! I'm going to go through some flying exercises. These will start off at a reasonable work-load, but then it'll get tougher as we progress," she said. Her voice wasn't as soft as it was two years ago. She had definitely changed. "First of all, there is going to be a race track, where five of you will go at a time. This means it will take ten runs to go through, but we have plenty of daylight left. So please form an orderly line, and we'll get going from there." I got myself in the line. I was actually pretty close to the first group to go, but I somehow got shoved back by about six other ponies. Charming.

The first five ponies went up to their section of the race track. "This is no ordinary race track. It requires both running and flying. The reason we have to build up your leg muscle strength is for when we come to the second and third month. That will require more leg work and wing work, combining of course. It's important to keep your legs strong anyway, so you can do any challenge threw at you," Fluttershy explained. The five ponies were ready to go. "So as you can see, the first half of this track requires only leg work, such as jumping and high-speed running. The second half requires flight work, due to obstacles. This will focus your mind and work on your coordination skills. Are you all ready?"

"All ready!" shouted the five ponies. Two girls and three boys were going first. Fluttershy blew a whistle. I watched the ponies go. The track was quite long and looked like it took about five to six minutes to complete. I watched what the ponies were doing, in order to know what I had to do. I was going to be in the third group, so I might as well learn the basics of this through observation. There were high jumps and some double-jumps. It looked pretty scary... The high jumps, I mean. Would I be able to do them? Everypony else looked like they were managing fine... Time would only tell, wouldn't it?

"First half completed!" Fluttershy shouted, after a couple more minutes. Ponies lifted themselves with their wings and started avoiding obstacles of all kinds. There were moving ones, ones that followed in front of ponies, and other ones that came out by surprise and dropped down. One pony in particular was caught off guard, and an obstacle dropped right on top of them. However, the race wasn't stopped.

"Ahh...!" the pony yelled. The obstacle looked heavy. Nopony stopped to help and nopony in the crowd spoke. Fluttershy simply chose to ignore what had happened. The race was finally completed and the pony was badly injured. A pony from the race came over to help them. They lifted up the obstacle.

"Are you okay?" they asked. The injured pony shook her head, and that's when the tears started.

"Oh, get over it! It's not like it killed you," Fluttershy said, sounding angry. That was one unusual thing. The Rainbow Factory was changing ponies... Wasn't it? Fluttershy never got angry at all two years ago. She was shy, had the gentlest tone and was the kindest pony around. Has this factory changed her behaviour? I chose not to focus on it once more. That seems to be my only response to the negative things that happen here. See and forget instantly. It would only change my outlook on my future here anyway. If I started getting ideas that bad things happened to the losers here, I'd want to leave eventually. I can't let that happen. I mustn't jump to conclusions either.

After the second race group went, it was my group's turn. I was the third member of a group of five. I noticed that Angel and Featherwing were in my group, along with Moon Beam and Silver Cloud. Well, okay then. I find that a scary coincidence. "Is everypony ready?" Fluttershy asked.

"We're all ready," Featherwing said, before any other one of us could answer.

"Okay. Go!" Fluttershy blew the whistle, and I started sprinting as fast as I could. It looked like I was ahead of everypony else, but Silver Cloud was gradually catching up to me. I came up to the first jump, a high one. I prepared myself and leapt over it. I'm surprised I made it over the thing I feared. I continued on, but heard the sound of a jumping fence fall over. I saw that Angel was not part of the race any more, so I assumed it was her that tripped on the high jump. I saw the double jump coming up. I jumped over it with ease, surprising myself. I continued sprinting, starting to lose my breath a little. I tried to focus on not losing my breath. If I gave up, I'd lag behind. If that happened, I'd lose the race and as Rainbow Dash says, 'It's all about winning!' - Which is exactly true. "First half completed!" I continued on, picking myself up with my wings. I flapped them hard and fast, making sure I was going at top speed. I had my concentration fully tuned, avoiding every single dropping, moving or sudden obstacles. I had to do this for two minutes approximately and I was doing surprisingly well. I noticed I was coming towards the end of the track, so I picked up my speed, no matter how out of breath I already was. Silver Cloud looked exhausted himself, but he was also very determined to win. I could see him looking at me from the corner of my eye. He knew it was tough competition. Featherwing was just behind Moon Beam, and Moon Beam was in front of Silver Cloud nearly. As for myself, I was literally a few wing-flaps apart from Silver Cloud. The final seconds were ticking away; it's like I heard the echo of a tick-tock sound in my head. That drove me nuts. There was absolute silence, and I knew all eyes were on me. I saw the marking on the ground, indicating the finish line was only about five seconds away. I pushed myself as hard as I could to beat Silver Cloud by a split-second. I dropped to an appropriate level, remembering my 'clear, fly, fall and complete' training yesterday. I saw Silver Cloud do the same, as if he read my mind. I dived in for the finish line, not focusing on anything else but myself. I landed just after where the line was. I gasped for air. I was exhausted. My wings and legs were aching and I was sweating due to the heat and also pressure that was put on me during the race. I could feel my heart beating.

"Who won?" Silver Cloud asked, his voice coming out quietly. Featherwing and Moon Beam weren't as exhausted as us, and Angel had lost the race near the beginning.

"I believe the winner was Silver Cloud," Fluttershy replied. What?! I swear I won...! Silver Cloud smirked my way, and then turned his back to me. He walked off proudly. Rrhhh...

I thudded on the ground, taking a seat where the other ponies who had already raced were. "Exhausted, huh?" asked a male pony. He had a horn and strong pegasus wings. So, a unicorn, huh? Not bad. I think it would be awesome to have wings and a magical horn. You could do all things you wanted. He was a light-brown colour, yet his green eyes stood out from the rest of him. He had a dark red mane and tail.

"Very..." I breathed.

"Here, have some water," he offered. He used his horn to hold up a water bottle. He passed it to me and I took it. I considered what I should do with it. Heck, why drink it? I poured the water all over my face, which surprisingly cooled me down. His reaction, however, was priceless. He looked shocked, as if he'd never seen anypony do such an act.

"Ahh, much better!" I laughed.

"Heh, well... I've never seen that before," he commented.

"Oops! Sorry if I wasted your water," I said.

"Nah, no problem. So, what's your name?" he asked.

"I'm Scootaloo! I'm a good friend of Rainbow Dash's, which is how I picked up the awesome flying skills," I replied, bragging.

"Well, if you insist!" he joked. "I'm Flare Chaser."

"Flare Chaser, huh? Interesting name," I said.

"Yeah... My mother was called Sugar Spark, and my father was called Chase. Somehow, Spark and Flare were related... My parents are weird," Flare Chaser replied. I laughed.

"So, do you have any friends here?" I wondered.

"Yeah, my two room mates. They're good friends. What about you?" Flare Chaser replied.

"I have none, currently. I have these two room mates, Angel and Featherwing. They're really rude to me all of the time but recently, Angel and Featherwing stopped talking. I just have a weird situation currently," I sighed.

"Well, we can be friends."

"We can?!" I exclaimed, getting excited. I actually wanted a friend. It would give me something to do and then I wouldn't miss Apple Bloom or Sweetie Belle as much.

"Sure," Flare Chaser replied.

"Yaaay!" I squeaked, and attacked him with a hug. I let go of him, nervously laughing five seconds later. "Sorrryy! It's just, nopony here seemed to like me and didn't want to be my friend." Flare Chaser just smiled and was okay with it. I actually didn't pay much attention to the other races. I spent time getting to know my new friend and we had quite a bit in common. For one, we both bragged about our awesome flying talent. That was funny. However, time was cut short because I heard Fluttershy saying all of the races were over. It went that fast? Wow. I stood up and walked to the crowd of ponies.

"Well done. That was brilliant for your first race course, everypony. Though some of you failed," Fluttershy said. "Well, it's just gone 6pm, so you are free to do what you wish. It's also a meal time, so it's recommended that you eat up for your training tomorrow. There's plenty more challenges to come." We were all then dismissed. I decided to check into my room first for some odd reason. When I got there, I saw a letter lying on top of my pillow. Oh? I picked it up and opened it. I began to read.

"Dear Scootaloo. It's your best pals Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle here! We know this is probably forbidden, but we're coming by to visit you tonight! We sent this on the third day of the Rainbow Factory, so we hope it finds you well! Can't wait until tonight." It took me a while to register what was being said. Then... "YAAYYY!"

Later On...

I managed to sneak my way out of the Rainbow Factory while everypony was eating. I silently walked down the grounds of the factory and approached the gate. I saw two ponies standing there. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. "Girls! Hi!" I shouted.

"Hiya, Scootaloo!" Apple Bloom greeted. The only thing that separated us was the giant fence that blocked off any other pony who tried to enter. It made me kind of sad.

"What's with the sudden visit?" I asked.

"What, are you being ungrateful?" Sweetie Belle joked.

"No! I was just wondering," I replied.

"Well, we actually came here to tell you something," Apple Bloom said.

"Ohh, okay. And what would that be?" I asked.

"Well... Uh..." Apple Bloom mumbled. She faced Sweetie Belle. "You tell her."

"Me?!" she squeaked. "Why should I tell her? You're the one that found it out!"

"Oh come on, can't you just tell her?" Apple Bloom asked.

"Because you're the one who agreed to do the talking!" Sweetie Belle argued.

"UM, YOU TWO. Do you mind?" I interrupted.

"Oh!" Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle said, remembering that I was there.

"Ah. Just excuse me - I wasn't in this conversation or anything, was I?" I asked.

"Sorry! Okay. I'll tell her," Apple Bloom said.

"Now we're getting somewhere," I said.

"Okay... The other day, we were online because we were bored and were just scanning through the old Equestria news that was unpopular. Don't ask us why, we were just bored senseless. Anyway, we came across this one article about Manechester, which was entitled 'Rainbow Disaster'. It seemed like a weird title, so Sweetie Belle insisted I clicked on it. So I did, and then it came up with an image of the Rainbow Factory," Apple Bloom explained.

"Uh huh...?" I mumbled.

"And then we scrolled down to read the article and it said that the Rainbow Factory caused the destruction of Manechester. No longer is it a minor part of Equestria. All it really said was that the Rainbow Factory destroyed that minor part of Equestria. We were curious, because you go to the Rainbow Factory. Anyway! There wasn't much else on it, so we decided to research it," said Sweetie Belle, taking over from Apple Bloom.

"But then we found another old newspaper kind of thing and looked at that. The article started off by saying that the original Equestria News story was covered up, because the owners of the factory, Snowcone and Snowflake, bribed the newspaper to keep their storyline a secret. Somepony had leaked the original story that was only out for a couple of days before it taken from the official website, but this pony must have saved the article," Apple Bloom continued.

"Where is this going?" I asked.

"Sorry! Um, well, we started reading the incident. It reported that Rainbow Factory was opened up last year in Manechester, a minor city of Equestria that not many ponies knew about, but it was dedicated to helping pegasus ponies, like the Rainbow Factory here in Cloudsdale. A pony went to interview the factory a month after its opening and went when nopony was around. He found the Boiler Room or something like that, and saw ponies in there screaming for their lives. There was blood all over the walls, and guts were in a pile and there were a pile of wings. He discovered that they were for experimentation; meaning that Snowcone and Snowflake had used these wings which they ripped off ponies while they went through a shredding machine. That's another part though. They used the wings to test how good they'd be for artificial use. What they did was, they implanted metal mechanisms inside of the wings, the supporting metal rod being the basic structure of a pony's wing. This ripped through the veins and muscles and went deep into the wing, up into the furthest of the final wing part. From there, they used a control to make the wing move by itself with the metal," Sweetie Belle explained. I was absolutely shocked.

"I-Implanted metal in ripped off wings...?" I whispered.

"Yes... It shocked us, too," Apple Bloom said.

"W-What else happens here?" I asked. I was terrified of this thought, but wanted to hear the truth.

"Well, going back to the shredding machine part... If a pony failed their first month, they would be taken into the main factory room, deep in the underground of the factory. From there, they'd be strapped down on a moving machine. The pony was moved along the machine, where it would be stripped of its limbs. A pony would be screaming in agony - Can you just imagine the pain? They were moved on further and were tipped into a squashed cube-like object and were crushed to pieces by stompers. Their mane colour was extracted and poured into the paint mixer. Their blood was also added. Their guts was thrown into a box that would be experimented on for later use, and their wings were added to another separate pile. If they had a horn, their horn was simply ripped off their head and thrown into another pile. From there, they chose seven ponies each for the colours of the rainbow to mix into one big rainbow. If they weren't the colour of the rainbow, their blood would simply be added. They would do this by using a blood-pumping machine; you get the idea of what that does. Their empty body is tossed into a rubbish chute. Basically, they make rainbows out of dead ponies... It's sick. It's how Manechester was destroyed. Snowcone and Snowflake invited everypony from that town, which was only about two-hundred ponies into the Rainbow Factory for a special tour. After the tour was done, every single one of those ponies died. From there, they took over Manechester by knocking down all buildings and crushing everything," Apple Bloom explained. I had listened carefully to every single word that came from Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. I was shocked and terrified. What if that happened here? How will it be prevented? Does Rainbow Dash know what happens here? Does everypony else know what happens?

"I... I'm speechless..." I mumbled.

"We were too. We had to tell you, so you could get the hell away from this place!" Sweetie Belle shouted. Then a horrible thought was drilled into my head and there was no going back.

"No..." I said.

"What?" Apple Bloom asked.

"No! You're just jealous of me! Aren't you?" I shouted, accusing them both.

"No, you've got it all wrong! We're only trying to protect you," Sweetie Belle replied.

"What a likely story. Just because you aren't pegasus ponies - And I was right! You really don't want me to get my cutie mark! So instead, you're drilling this pathetic story into my head to make me back away from my future. Aren't you?!" I shouted.

"Scootaloo, no! We're not-"

"But you are," I interrupted. The idea of them lying was stuck in my head. They weren't my real friends, through the eyes of a crazed, self-centred pony who only cared about winning.

"Scootaloo, you'll get your cutie mark soon enough, but dying here won't prove you're worth your cutie mark!" Sweetie Belle insisted.

"Shut up! Why would you make up such a sick story about this place?" I asked.

"Why won't you just let go of this stupid block in your head and listen to us?!" Apple Bloom demanded.

"Because until you have proof, I won't believe a single word you say!" I screeched. Then I ran. I turned my back on my two ex-friends and ran back into the Rainbow Factory, slamming the door on any lies that were floating around outside. None of it was true... None of it! Rainbow Dash could never be a part of something so evil. I've known her for far too long. She's the nicest pony around. And Manechester? I would have seriously bought it if that name weren't so fake. I've studied Geography and aced it, I know nearly every place in Equestria. We focused on the minor parts of Equestria once, some time last year, and there was no such place. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom were truly pathetic.

Later on, I made my way back to my room after lingering around outside in the training fields. I was just thinking, but not actually thinking. More like staring into space. That kind of thing. It was 8pm, but I decided to have an early night. I was tired from all of the training today, so I just went straight into bed. I don't know why, but I started remembering the exact incident with Silver Spoon yesterday. It was odd... I could remember it all clearly. Didn't quite hear Silver Spoon- Well, I did; but it shocked me. "What?!" I exclaimed.

"Learn to listen," said Silver Spoon. Her tone was creeping me out. It was dark and mysterious, and certainly something I didn't want to hear.

"B-But... What do you mean?" I asked.

"Oh my gosh, how stupid are you? I said you're going to die, and that's what I mean. You're. Going. To. Die!" Silver Spoon yelled, speaking as clear as possible on her second sentence.

"I... I don't get it!" I shouted, unable to say anything more.

"This place... While under development, it made me go insane, Scootaloo! I don't deserve to know such disgusting and horrifying things at my age. I don't want to be here, but I am! Scootaloo, you're going to die here. Insanity and nightmares are made into a beautiful rainbow. The rainbows are made out of... Of...!" Silver Spoon said, unable to finish.

"S-Silver Spoon...?" I asked. She began to give out a low laugh. It was quiet at first. She lifted her head to look directly in my eyes, and then she started laughing with nothing but pure evil in her voice.

"Hahahah! You're so cute and so naive, Scootaloo. You don't know your fate, but I know it for you! You know... Since your fate is so unfortunate... How about I push it for you?" Silver Spoon asked.

"What do you mean?" I questioned, starting to become frightened of the pony before my eyes.

"You're going to die no matter what happens. If you pass the first month, fantastic! You don't get killed by the psychopathic maniacs that operate this factory. If you pass the second month, even better! Your life has been extended for another month. If you win the factory, then that's even better! Even better for the rainbows that will 'celebrate' your excellence," Silver Spoon shouted, and let out another laugh.

"Silver Spoon, you're creeping me out. This isn't funny any more!" I shouted.

"Did I say I was joking?!" Silver Spoon snapped, cutting off her own laughter immediately.

"N-No, but-"

"You're so stupid. You think that I'm insane now... Idiot. I was warning you," Silver Spoon interrupted.

"I don't get it..." I sighed.

"Take this warning into consideration. You'll die without it. Get out of here while you can," Silver Spoon said.

"But I don't want to leave! I came here to get my cutie mark!" I yelled.

"Then you're pathetic! You should have it already! You won't earn your cutie mark by dying!" Silver Spoon shouted.

"Silver Spoon, if you don't mind, I have to go eat something before I continue training," I said, shoving past her.

"Don't shove me. It's not my fault you're a talentless loser who's going to die as one, too!" Silver Spoon harshly shouted. Once I had thought of that, it made sense that it linked to what Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom told me... No! I can't go around changing my mind. I sighed to myself. All I know, is... It's going to be a long three months.

(Word count: 8674. Little less than before, but I ran out of ideas again. Damn it. Anyway, I hope you liked chapter two just as much as chapter one, and there's plenty more shocks to come!)


	3. Too Much At Once

I found myself awake that next day. I must have fell asleep. I looked out of the window to see how bright or dark it was. It was light, so it must have been... I dunno. Early. I noticed Angel and Featherwing were still asleep. I also noticed it was raining outside. I was watching the rain drip down the window because I was bored. I assumed it was pretty early because my room mates are usually awake before me. I got startled by the sound of a hard knock on the door. It was loud and I nearly jumped out of bed at it. I got myself out of bed, the pony still knocking the door down practically. "I'm coming!" I grumbled. I opened the door to see Silver Spoon stood there. "Oh, good morning. What's wro-" I got cut off by Silver Spoon dragging me out of the room by my wings. I looked behind me to see if Featherwing and Angel were still asleep. They were. I closed the door silently, however. Suddenly, Silver Spoon pushed me against the wall.

"If you tell anypony about what I said to you the other day, I'll make sure your wingless friends don't get away so easily. I'll kill them first and then you. Got it?" Silver Spoon hissed.

"But they don't go to-"

"I saw them last night! What do you think I am, an idiot?" Silver Spoon interrupted. I gulped and she stomped away in a mood. I felt scared. I didn't know what to do. Everything was just so confusing and I couldn't go and blab to Rainbow Dash, because Silver Spoon seems to know everything that happens at this factory. Why would she say that? Did she mean it? Of course not... Well, I hope not! Why is everypony so mean? The only one who's nice to me is Rainbow Dash, Coco and... Snowflake. I haven't seen Snowflake for a while, though. Not since a few days ago when she showed me the main factory room. I opened my bedroom door as quietly as possible but got a fright to see Featherwing standing there, waiting.

"What were you doing out there, blank flank?" Featherwing asked.

"None of your business," I replied, shoving past her.

"Don't shove me, freak! I heard somepony mumbling outside. I don't know what it was about but you better tell me. Got it? I can easily break your wing again!" Featherwing threatened. I saw Angel sit up in her bed.

"Featherwing, just shut up and drop it. She hasn't done anything to you!" Angel shouted. Featherwing rolled her eyes.

"Of course you'd stick up for your new best friend." With that, Featherwing shoved me aside and left the room.

"Thanks for that, Angel," I said.

"Don't think I said that to benefit you. I'm just sick of her damn mouth always pouring out useless insults. We are not friends. Right?" Angel harshly replied.

"If you say so," I mumbled. I decided to go out and get some fresh air and maybe a drink. On my way, I saw Rainbow Dash.

"Heyyy, Scoots! You're up early, aren't you?" Rainbow Dash greeted.

"Good morning to you too," I remarked, rolling my eyes. I continued walking but Rainbow Dash plopped herself in front of me, stopping me from walking.

"Hey, what's wrong? Are those freaks bullying you again?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"No. I just have a lot on my mind right now. Also, why are you never around any more?" I replied.

"Sorry Scoots... I've been real busy with my work."

"Yeah, well you say that a lot, don't you?" I said.

"I'm sorry," Rainbow Dash sighed.

"Whatever. I feel as though you don't care for me any more," I replied.

"Oh, that's ridiculous. Of course I still care for you! Remember, you're like my little sister. I wouldn't favour work over you," Rainbow Dash said.

"Oh really? Nothing but an empty statement," I scowled.

"Hey now, don't talk to me like that, little missy. It's not my fault I have a job," Rainbow Dash replied.

"Well can't you just spend a little bit more time with me? Would that kill you?!" I shouted. She hesitated, looking at me. Directly in my eyes. She sighed.

"Okay then. Today's Friday and tomorrow is the start of the weekend, where we get free time off training and work. Well, I get time off my work. So... It's a date?" Rainbow Dash offered.

"Yes! Yes, it is!" I shouted and suddenly attacked her with a hug.

"Hah, I think somepony's in a better mood now," Rainbow Dash laughed, ruffling my mane. I came out of the hug.

"You know I'll always love you, Rainbow Dash. By any chance, will you be giving us training lessons?" I asked.

"Maybe." Rainbow Dash winked and walked away. Ooh, a flying lesson with the ultimate pro! Nice.

3rd Person's Point Of View

Rainbow Dash had to attend to other matters at this time, though. There was a meeting down at the office in where the Boiler Room and Main Factory Room was. Rainbow Dash took the lift down and made her way to the office, where she had to take a left then follow the winding corridor. She was late to the meeting. Everypony else was there. Fluttershy, Snowcone, Snowflake, Coco, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon.

"You're late," said Fluttershy.

"I know, I was-"

"Talking to your pathetic 'sister'?" Snowcone interrupted. He was in an even worse mood than the other day, apparently.

"Don't mock her like that!" Rainbow Dash snapped.

"Shut up!" Fluttershy demanded. This was different to the Fluttershy the ponies once knew. This Fluttershy was loud, angry and rude. She also had a short temper. Nopony wanted to mess with her new attitude. Fluttershy was the top of the top. She ruled over Snowcone and Snowflake, the two twin ponies who had ultimate control over the factory. "Do you know why we're here today?"

"To discuss the new machinery?" Snowflake asked.

"Correct. We are here to indeed do that," Fluttershy replied.

"Is it for the torture room?" Diamond Tiara wondered.

"Well, partly it is. This new machinery is going to be much more simple and less messy for us. I am currently undergoing plans of building robot ponies to have a much stronger grip on any ponies who fail the test. I'm not doubting your strength, Snowflake and Snowcone, but some ponies are eager to escape. The ponies will be forced onto a body-length board and then Rainbow Dash or Diamond Tiara will strap them down using metal chains and other things. We have a new method of torture... Are you ready to hear this, Diamond Tiara and Rainbow Dash? Using a precise operation knife, you will slowly cut open their stomachs and remove their insides. This will go towards the pile for experimentation, and the blood will still go towards making the rainbow. To prolong the pain of the torture, slowly and deeply cut off their wings. This will just kill them instantly, because they of course will have no organs. Their bodies will still be crushed and their coat colour extracted, of course," Fluttershy explained.

"Oooh, it sounds fun!" Diamond Tiara said, evilly giggling.

"It sounds so evil..." Coco mumbled. Fluttershy stared at her. "I love it!" Her frown turned into an evil, crazy smile. It seems as though Coco was just as bad as everypony else at Rainbow Factory.

"Silver Spoon, I don't think you'll be needed as much, now that we have this new machinery," Fluttershy said.

"What? But, I-"

"But you what?" Snowflake interrupted.

"Can't I help finish off ponies? There's one pony in particular who really does my head in."

"As long as you succeed in what you do, then I suppose there's no harm in continuing your job. Your first test will be when the first 25 ponies fail. If you disappoint us, you know what will happen to you," Fluttershy said.

"Got it..." Silver Spoon mumbled.

Snowcone and Snowflake headed over to the torture room with Rainbow Dash and Diamond Tiara. Silver Spoon just went back to the main factory room. "I feel like testing our new machinery..." said Snowflake.

"I want to do this myself. I really need to vent my anger," Snowcone replied.

"You can choose a random pony," Diamond Tiara said. Snowcone flew up to a cage with a grown pony in it. He had been beaten down and looked very weak. The pony was probably going to die any time soon, so Snowcone chose that one. He unlocked the cage. The pony couldn't fly, so he fell straight to the ground. These ponies had been here from the Rainbow Factory in Manechester and various other minor places. For some reason though, they were kept alive.

"How pathetic. What is your name?" Snowcone asked.

"...C-Copper Strings." The pony didn't have much of a look to him - Nothing but dullness, really.

"Seemingly appropriate, I suppose. You'll have to do," Snowcone said. He was judging Copper Strings as if he were that one christmas present that nopony liked from their 'Great Aunt What'shernameagain?', or the birthday card that had no money inside of it. In short, worthless. Copper Strings stood there, confused and also hesitant. He knew that his fate were to be sealed once led into the main factory room.

"What are you waiting for? Get your flank moving before we carry you there ourselves!" Snowflake ordered. Copper Strings flinched and started moving.

"It's business from here on out, ladies. Excuse me - I wish to do this job alone," Snowcone said. The girls allowed Snowcone to test out the machinery by himself. When Snowcone is angry, it's advised you don't anger him even more. You want to know why? Well, once, when he and Snowflake were celebrating their 11th birthday... Snowcone was angry. He just was - There's no question to it. He's always had anger problems. So, Snowflake decided to ask him what was wrong. She teased him and teased him, until finally, Snowcone snapped in half like a twig. He bit Snowflake's wing hard and then shoved her across the room. Snowflake, at this age, wasn't much of an angry person. In fact, she was completely against Rainbow Factory. It was just starting to come out when she was 11, the very first ones. However, they were outside of Equestria and completely forbidden. Snowflake never questioned or teased her brother again.

Copper Strings wearily pushed open the main factory doors. Snowcone rolled his eyes, his patience growing thin with this poor excuse of a pegasus. Snowcone shoved Copper Strings into the room and slammed the door behind him. It made quite a loud noise, and this was only doubled by how far it could echo. Copper Strings flinched. He was already in a state and that didn't help him. Snowcone seemed unaffected by this loud noise. Figures. "Stay still. Do not attempt escape; I have my magic right here and handy." Snowcone gestured towards his magical horn. Copper Strings gulped and nodded. He knew that Snowcone and Snowflake could do much damage. He knew this because he had friends who were in the torture room beside him who never returned once called upon. Copper Strings actually found it unfair how he was dragged all the way from Manechester's factory. The two ponies who ran the factory just decided not to kill some of the contestants, which is how there were 15 in the torture room to begin with. But of course, Snowflake and Snowcone absolutely ruined Manechester. All of its buildings - gone. On top of that, they captured everypony they could. Sick, isn't it? Hahaha, of course not!

Snowcone walked to the far end of the factory, where overnight, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash worked on placing in the new machinery. It was all boxed up. There was everything that Fluttershy talked about, except the robot ponies. Snowcone ripped open the box and set his eyes upon a newly sharpened knife. An evil smile formed upon his face as he reached out to pick it up. He held it firmly to test how good it felt and found out he liked it. He could get accustomed to this indeed... Snowcone levitated the knife with his horn, so he could walk back to Copper Strings without it being awkward. As in, so he wouldn't be hopping along on three legs while holding a knife. Besides. This way, he thought would be double the fun. He made his way back over to Copper Strings who was standing there practically frozen, except he was shaking on the spot. Snowcone put the knife down on a nearby surface. It would make do for later. Snowcone used his magic to fully levitate Copper Strings. He gasped and tried kicking his legs about. "Stay still!" Snowcone demanded.

"N-No... Please..." Copper Strings begged, his voice weak. He sounded dehydrated, which was a possibility, considering the conditions ponies were kept in at the torture room.

"Pathetic pegasus pony. You can't beg for your safety, as if it's your right - As if it's your sole purpose and duty to do that. No wonder you were kept alive for the torturing. You were just that fun; so fun that we had to keep you alive and laugh endlessly at your pain and suffering," Snowcone mocked. Copper Strings couldn't keep back the tears any longer. He was a fully grown pony, but Snowcone was just being so horrible. So heartless. Snowcone threw Copper Strings violently onto a strip of wood, long enough to support a pony of any size. Before Copper Strings could get up and escape, Snowcone slammed down the metal cuffs on all four of Copper Strings' legs and across his neck. Snowcone used his magic to levitate the sharp knife from the nearby surface he had previously placed it on and walked towards Copper Strings. He was right beside him now.

"W-What are you going to do to me...?" Copper Strings asked, trembling with fear. Snowcone simply laughed at the behaviour his victim was showing. He stopped his laughter sharply and stared coldly into Copper Strings' eyes.

"I'm going to cut you open and slice up your insides... Nice and slowly," Snowcone smirked. Copper Strings gulped. "So be a good pegasus and stay still." Copper Strings couldn't move anyway - He was paralysed because of fear. Snowcone edged the knife closer to Copper Strings' left wing. He was going to cut them off first. He placed the knife on one end of the wing, where it connected to the body, and pulled it to the other end fast. Copper Strings let out a cry of pain. The wing fell to the ground and blood dripped out of the wound at first, but then it started bleeding heavily. The blood splashed onto Snowcone's face, only making him look even crazier. Snowcone did the exact same thing with Copper Strings' right wing.

"P-Please...S-Stop..." Copper Strings weakly begged, his breathing decreasing by the second.

"Are you kidding me? That's not even painful yet," Snowcone replied. Snowcone suddenly jabbed the knife into Copper Strings' stomach.

"AH!"

"THIS is painful! Hahahah!" Snowcone pulled the knife out slowly. "Are you in pain yet? Are you suffering? Do you just want to kill me?" Snowcone's words drilled through Copper Strings' head.

"Stop it! Stop IT!" Copper Strings demanded.

"Make me!" Snowcone challenged, repeatedly stabbing Copper Strings in the stomach. Blood splashed onto his face and dried. Copper Strings was choking on his own breath, pain and tears. He was crying out for help and praying for his life to be spared. Snowcone eventually cut open Copper Strings, who took his last breath. His eyes rolled back and his last expression was that of feeling pain. Only the white parts of his eyes could be seen. Snowcone had finally drained his extra anger and felt much better. He levitated the pony who was no longer alive onto the machine where the stompers were. Snowcone took the knife and licked a tiny drop of blood off it. When that happened, it was like he had become a whole new pony. One who was obsessed with killing. He let out a great laugh of evil. "This isn't my last victim... No, it certainly isn't... _For I have somepony else in mind_."

Scootaloo's Point of View

I stood outside once again in the training field. Rainbow Dash was giving us a lesson today, its total purpose being flying and flying only. I think this is going to be the best lesson ever! Rainbow Dash is such a pro; I love how she's the only one capable of performing a Sonic Rainboom. I was only going to focus on completing each day of training. I was in full focus and I was taking in every word of advice Rainbow Dash gave us. "Hi Scootaloo!" greeted a pony. I squeaked, getting a fright. I saw it was only Flare Chaser.

"Haha, oops...! Hi," I replied.

"Ready to be given the toughest lesson yet?" Flare Chaser asked.

"Duh! Rainbow Dash has great skill. I'll be surprised if anypony can match what she teaches us," I said.

"Alrighty then, ponies! Since this lesson is revolving around flying, all of your obstacles are gonna be up there." Rainbow Dash pointed to the sky with her front left hoof. I looked up to see all sorts of obstacles. It reminded me of the Equestria Games, or the Pegasus Races. I looked back over at Rainbow Dash. "This course only lasts around two minutes, but it will put your flying skill to the ultimate test. So, first up is... Ah! Scootaloo."

"Oh! Um, okay," I said. I lifted myself up and flew beside Rainbow Dash.

"Give it your best, kid! Good luck," Rainbow Dash smiled. I nodded. I flew up to the sky and found myself being launched straight into the obstacles. I had just avoided the first one. Oops... My concentration wasn't fully focused there. On we go! I approached an obstacle which looked quite peculiar. A wall with a hole in it...? Hmm. I put all of my focus into this one and passed it. I was so concentrated, that I didn't see the next solid wall in front of my face.

"Ahh!" I shouted. I was going too fast and couldn't stop myself in time. I smashed right into the wall and fell to the ground. The right side of my face began to sting a lot.

"Scootaloo!" Rainbow Dash shouted, coming up to me.

"Wh-Why was that an obstacle...?" I asked, weakly. I managed to stand up. Rainbow Dash put her wing around me, supporting me. I felt quite dizzy.

"It wasn't," Rainbow Dash said.

"It... Wasn't?" I repeated, confused.

"Who sabotaged the obstacles?! Somepony could have been seriously hurt! Own up, now!" Rainbow Dash yelled. She seemed really angry about it. I don't know why, but I found myself being able to pinpoint exactly where Moon Beam and Silver Cloud were in the crowd of ponies. And when I set eyes upon them, they were looking at each other. They looked somewhat guilty or scared. Could it be...? "Ugh, honestly..."

"What are we going to do for training?" I asked.

"I guess I got something else planned. It was meant for later, but unfortunately, some selfish and destructive ponies can't help themselves," Rainbow Dash replied. She led us over to a big machine. It was a giant circle, coloured in purple and green in the shape of a swirl. There was a little seat to the left of the centre. It was huge. I gulped, having an idea of what we'd have to do for this lesson. I ignored the pain in my face. "Will you be okay to continue, Scoots?"

"Huh? Oh. Yeah. I should be fine," I replied, putting on a smile.

"Good! Okay. This is going to test how well you fly, no matter what conditions you are under. You will be placed in that seat up there and spun around at top speed until I shout 'release!'. From there, you'll be released from the machine and you'll have to recover and fly the best you can. You must also have a smooth landing. You will be timed to see how capable or good you are at this, but it will not go on any record whatsoever - It is for training purposes only," Rainbow Dash explained. Flare Chaser came next to me.

"Hey, I saw what happened to you up there. Are you okay?" Flare Chaser asked.

"I'll be fine, don't worry. You should be more concerned about that spinny thing there," I replied, pointing at the... Spinny thing?

"Looks challenging - And I am of course ready to accept all challenges!" Flare Chaser declared.

"So you wouldn't mind going first, hmm?" Rainbow Dash asked. He froze on the spot.

"Hehe, just realised how loud-mouthed you are?" I whispered, teasingly smiling. Flare Chaser sighed.

"No, I... Okay. I'll go." Wow, I bet he's real proud of himself. Flare Chaser flew up to the seat and placed himself there. The metal bar secured itself tightly. I watched Flare Chaser at all times, to determine how difficult it would be to complete. I've never seen Flare Chaser fly before. Not properly, anyway. So now's my chance. Rainbow Dash nodded over at a pony who was controlling the spinning machine. The pony pulled a lever slightly up then pushed it down. The machine started spinning around quite fast, but Flare Chaser looked like he was managing it. I hope I can manage it...

"Release!" Rainbow Dash shouted. The pony at the control panel pressed a button which released the metal bar that secured Flare Chaser in, and he was sent flying. He flew straight past all of us and I watched. It looked as though Flare Chaser was going to go straight into nothing and crash land, because he was wobbling and struggling to keep his balance. Suddenly, he looped around backwards and flew forward without any trouble. He landed perfectly. Rainbow Dash pressed a button on the stopwatch. She observed it. "Hmm... That took fifteen seconds. Not so bad for the first try - But who wants to try and beat that record?"

"Me. I want to prove that I'm not just weak and that I have potential," Featherwing said, raising her voice. She sounded angry, jealous and upset all at the same time. Angry at me. Jealous that Angel defended me. Upset that she'd lost her best friend. I can understand all of that - But I'd never tell her that. From what she said this morning, she really was prepared to break my wing.

"A brave pony you are. Okay then, up you get," Rainbow Dash replied. Featherwing flew up to the seat. I noticed that the strength in her broken wing was improving, although it wasn't completely healed.

"I wish to go on full speed. The highest you've got." Is she nuts?!

"What? Don't go kidding yourself. You'll damage your wing even more, and then some," Rainbow Dash said.

"I said, I want to go on the highest speed you've got!" Featherwing snapped.

"Well fine. Just don't blame me when you fall flat on your face. And that's not intended to be offensive," Rainbow Dash replied. She nodded over at the pony on controls. I watched the pony who was controlling the machine. Nopony else was watching there, and I happened to notice something odd. A pony with a hood over their head and cloak over their body was sneaking around behind the controls. I couldn't make out who it was, but they were doing all sorts to the controls. They put the switches on the highest setting and sped off. I turned to look at Featherwing, who had been thrown at full speed.

"Ahhh!" she shouted, starting to lose control. Did I just witness a sabotage...?

"I got you!" Rainbow Dash, at top speed, went after Featherwing and caught her just in time. They landed. Rainbow Dash put Featherwing down, who looked traumatised. "Featherwing, are you okay?"

"N-Not really... D-Did I overdo it?" Featherwing replied, her words stuttering due to her fright.

"Man... That must have been awful..." Flare Chaser whispered to me.

"I know. But... I think I saw somepony mess with the machine," I whispered.

"You did?" he asked. I nodded.

"But don't say anything to anypony. I'm not positive on what I saw."

"Gotcha."

"This is the second sabotage of the day, it seems. Lightning, did you see anypony messing with controls?" Rainbow Dash asked the pony on controls.

"No, I didn't, ma'am. I was keeping a good eye out, too," replied Lightning.

"This is so ridiculous..." Rainbow Dash said.

"Why don't you tell Rainbow Dash?" Flare Chaser whispered, offering a suggestion.

"Because it mightn't be true. Besides... I don't even know who it was, so it'd be useless," I replied, whispering.

"I guess so..." Flare Chaser whispered.

"Lightning, could you try and sort out the machine while I take these lot to do something else?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Yes ma'am. When will you be back?" Lightning replied.

"Let's just say about twenty minutes," Rainbow Dash said. Lightning nodded and went to try and fix the sabotaged controls. Lightning was lying, to be honest. If he had such a good eye out, then he'd spot the pony who did it. I'll keep this information to myself until I'm certain on who it is... "Okay, we've got an hour left of training and we've hardly done anything. That's just greaaat."

"Whoever sabotaged Rainbow Dash's lesson is just plain selfish," Flare Chaser whispered to me. I nodded in agreement.

"So I'll guess we'll just do some wing exercises," Rainbow Dash said. She led us over to an empty part of the training field. "This is just basics, but all of you get up to my level of flight, please." Rainbow Dash was about 60 cm off the ground. I lifted myself up along with every other pony. "Now, we'll see who can stay up the longest by using wing control. Like this." Rainbow Dash was flapping her wings at a normal pace and was using obvious control. I tried using wing control like Rainbow Dash and found that I was struggling a bit. "We can go on for as long as the last pony is standing." Rainbow Dash went to the ground and observed. I concentrated on keeping my balance and not toppling over. I remember when I was younger, when my wings were extremely weak, how I'd always fall over when I tried to fly. But no... I'm not that weak little pony any more. I have to do my best - I have to be better than I was before! When I thought of wanting to win, I found that I could keep myself up in the sky perfectly. Already, five ponies had fallen over. It had only been like two minutes, as well. The next to fall was Featherwing, which was inevitable if you think about it, because of her weak wing.

"You keeping up good?" Flare Chaser asked.

"Yep! In fact, I'm so used to it, my wings don't even hurt from the strain any more," I replied. I looked over at Moon Beam and Silver Cloud. They were flying next to each other, and looked very determined to keep up.

"My wings are hurting a little, but I should be fine," Flare Chaser said. I noticed Angel was struggling to keep up. Maybe she isn't as great as she claims she is. Ten more slow and painful minutes had passed. Only I, Flare Chaser, Moon Beam and Silver Cloud were left. Angel had fallen five minutes ago.

"You four are doing good! Keep it up! Remember: no pain, no gain! Excellent work!" Rainbow Dash said. My wings were starting to hurt now, but I reminded myself that I had to win.

"Scootaloo, my wings can't keep up any more..." Flare Chaser said. He looked like he was struggling.

"Come on, we can do this!" I replied.

"Sorry..." Flare Chaser mumbled, and he fell to the ground. He had given up.

"One down, three to go!" Rainbow Dash announced.

"Wow, nice friend you got there, Scootaloo. Is it a trait of yours to be friends with losers?" Silver Cloud mocked.

"Why you-!"

"Not another word! Silver Cloud, keep your sly comments to yourself and focus on the task," Rainbow Dash interrupted.

"Yes, miss," Silver Cloud said. Hah, I hope he feels ashamed. Besides. What the hell did he mean by 'friends with losers'? It's not Flare Chaser's fault that he couldn't do it any more. Don't worry. He may have lost, but I'll win for the both of us. This exercise in general isn't a competition, but overall, it is. If I can fly for longer than Silver Cloud and Moon Beam, then I'm one step ahead of them for the tougher challenges that await. I heard a drop behind me. Both Moon Beam and Silver Cloud had fell at the same time. I'm not one to be against that I won, but... That's a bit odd. Isn't it? Oh well.

"Well done, Scoots! Great wing work!" Rainbow Dash complimented. I let myself flop to the ground. I was exhausted. My wings started aching now that I stopped using them.

"Thanks," I said. She ruffled my mane, then got back to business.

"Okay! Let's go see if the machine is ready," Rainbow Dash said. We started walking back over to where the machine was.

"Great job, Scootaloo. You've proved how much better you are than those two," Flare Chaser said.

"Do you think so?" I asked.

"Well duh! You stayed up for the longest time," Flare Chaser replied.

"What I mean is... Don't you think it's the least bit suspicious that they both fell down at the same time?" I asked. Flare Chaser looked at me.

"Scootaloo... I think you're just over-thinking things." What?!

"What do you mean, I'm over-thinking things?!" I shouted.

"Well, can't you just accept the fact that you won? If they fell, then they fell. That's their loss and your gain. Stop worrying," Flare Chaser replied, laughing.

"Heh... Sorry..." I mumbled, faking a laugh. How could he say that? Well... If I'm on my own for this, then so be it. I just think there's something not right with Moon Beam and Silver Cloud.

"It was some hard work, but the Dizzatron Machine is now fixed, ma'am," said Lightning.

"Thanks, Lightning! Now we can continue from where we left off. Any volunteers?" Rainbow Dash replied. Nopony seemed to shout out that they wanted to try the 'Dizzatron' machine, nor did anypony raise their hoof eagerly or bravely. "Anypony? Anypony at all?" I hesitated. Nopony was volunteering. I breathed in.

"I'll try it," I said.

"Oh, thanks Scoots! I was gonna start calling on people there," Rainbow Dash replied.

"No problem..." I mumbled. I made my way up to the seat and placed myself in it. The metal bar secured me in. I gulped.

"You ready?" Rainbow Dash asked. I'm glad she's being nice to me about this.

"I guess I have to be!" I replied.

"Okay, start the machine!" Rainbow Dash shouted. The machine started spinning around and around and around... Damn, this thing really does make you dizzy. I kept myself prepared, no matter how much I felt like I was going to puke. "Anddd...release!" I was suddenly shot from the machine and I realised I was on my own. I lost focus of things around me - Everything I saw was in double vision and everything was spinning around. I shook my head and tried to get a grip on reality. Before I crashed face first, I looped around backwards and dashed forward, using the wing control I had earlier. I eventually landed smoothly. When I stood for a couple of seconds, though, I nearly toppled over. Rainbow Dash just caught me. "You okay?"

"Uh-huh." Okay. That really didn't help my stomach.

"Ten seconds. Nice!" Rainbow Dash said. I made my way over to where ponies had already finished. That was just I, Flare Chaser and Featherwing. I was walking like I was drunk or something, because I hadn't properly recovered from the machine. I fell onto my flank beside Flare Chaser.

"Umm, are you okay? You look like you're dead," Flare Chaser said.

"Perfectly fine! Why wouldn't I be?" I asked, laughing.

"Oh..." Flare Chaser mumbled.

"Hey, Flare Chaser... Why are there two of you?" I wondered. Flare Chaser simply sighed and shook his head slowly.

Eventually, the after-effects of the dizziness wore off and I could properly watch the rest of the ponies. The Dizzatron hadn't been sabotaged any more after Featherwing had her turn and the lesson ended pretty well. We could just do our own thing now. I had to take it easy, so I went straight back to my room. However, when I got to my room, Angel and Featherwing were just sitting there or lying there, reading a book or doing nothing. I closed the door silently. I walked over to my side of the room to find a letter but it was already ripped open. It was addressed to me, too. "Did one of you ponies open the letter for me?" I asked.

"Maybe, maybe not," Featherwing commented.

"I didn't touch it. I'm not a pathetic spy like Featherwing," Angel said.

"I'm not a spy, nor am I pathetic!" Featherwing shouted.

"I'm not asking for accusations or double-sided answers, I'm asking who opened it," I interrupted, sharply. It could have been important.

"It was just your pathetic friends, by the looks of it. Who's Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle? Let me guess - Blank flank losers?" Featherwing smirked.

"Featherwing!" I snapped.

"Oh, so they are?" Featherwing said.

"Featherwing, quit being so lame and just give the letter back to her," Angel said, butting in.

"How about you quit being so lame? You're the one sticking up for this talentless loser!" Featherwing replied.

"Just because I don't have my cutie mark... It doesn't mean I'm talentless! You got your cutie mark for trying hard, didn't you? I've been exploring my talent possibilities for ages," I said.

"And you, Scootaloo! Why don't you quit being so lame? Your poor excuse of a comeback isn't cutting it. I'm sick of all this arguing! Just stop it and move on already!" Angel shouted.

"So now I'm in the wrong?" I asked.

"Yes, you both are!" Angel replied.

"I see what's happening here... You're trying to be the 'peace keeper', aren't you? By pointing out our faults, you'll feel all good inside, like you've done the right thing. Right?" Featherwing asked.

"No, I'm just sick of this-"

"Well screw it!" Featherwing ripped my letter up.

"Featherwing!" I and Angel yelled at the same time. "Uuugh!" If I could build a damn wall around my area of the room, I would. I sure hope that letter wasn't important.

3rd Person's Point of View

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle sat in their Cutie Mark Crusaders treehouse, doing nothing. "Do you think she got our letter...?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"Who knows? We'll only find out if she writes us back," Apple Bloom replied.

"I hope she did get it! That included some really important info about Rainbow Factory," Sweetie Belle said.

"I know... I just can't believe that Rainbow Dash is involved in all of this," Apple Bloom sighed. Apple Bloom seemed to be getting better with finding specific information on the internet, so that's how she found out about the release of some new equipment. Since the Rainbow Factory stored all of its data on the one computer that Fluttershy monitored, it can be easy to access with the right amount of knowledge. And although Apple Bloom's talent was doing specific work on the Apple Farm, she held a good amount of knowledge with computer and hacking. To say it's right, though... Well.

Time Skip

Moon Beam and Silver Cloud were standing outside of the factory, wearing cloaks and hoods to cover themselves from being spotted easily. "Tonight is the night, Silver Cloud. You are aware that a pony has been killed due to that new machinery, right?" Moon Beam asked.

"Yes... I am fully aware," Silver Cloud replied.

"Good... I can see the outcome of this place. It's going to be as bad as the factory in Manechester, possibly worse," Moon Beam sighed.

"How are we going to get out? And how will we get to Canterlot so fast, that they won't realise we're gone?" Silver Cloud asked, starting to worry.

"Are you an idiot? We have wings!" Moon Beam hissed.

"We do have wings, but won't we be spotted?" Silver Cloud asked.

"Oh, quit worrying," Moon Beam said, rolling her eyes. She looked around one last time to make sure nopony was there, and she opened her wings and began to fly over the gate. Silver Cloud wearily followed her. They landed over on the other side.

"Hey, you two! Stop right there!" shouted a voice.

"Uh oh...!" Moon Beam squeaked.

"Snowcone! Snowflake! There they are, the sabotagers!" called the voice. Snowcone and Snowflake ran out of the factory and used their magic to freeze Moon Beam and Silver Cloud on the spot.

"Good work... You may go back inside now. We will deal with these two ponies," said Snowflake. The pony nodded and trotted back inside, proudly. As for Moon Beam and Silver Cloud, they knew they were done for.

"Now... Where do you think you two were heading off to in the middle of the night?" Snowcone asked.

"W-We..." Moon Beam mumbled.

"Wait a minute, who are you two? Oh! I see. You were trying to be mysterious or something?" Snowflake said.

"We-"

"You thought you could get away with being mischievous?" Snowcone interrupted.

"No, we-"

"Answer the damn question!" Snowflake shouted.

"We didn't want to be caught..." Silver Cloud sighed, giving in. Moon Beam stared at him.

"What? Quit looking at him like that. At least he has the guts...to do so..." Snowcone said. It looked like an idea was forming in his head. He pulled Snowflake aside for a second.

"What's up?" she asked.

"How about we just kill them both? Right now?" Snowcone said, keeping his voice to a very low whisper.

"Are you nuts? We can't kill ponies without a reason to do so - It's going against the work rules that Fluttershy, our leader, set us," Snowflake whispered, emphasising 'our leader'. They stood back in front of Moon Beam and Silver Cloud.

"Where were you two ponies going, then?" Snowcone asked. Moon Beam was staring at Silver Cloud, as if she were shouting 'don't tell! Don't!'.

"We were going to Canterlot." Moon Beam died on the inside.

"Canterlot? Hah! And you expected to go unnoticed?" Snowflake replied.

"My, how ridiculous," Snowcone commented.

"State your purpose, then."

"Well... We know what goes on here. We were the citizens of Manechester when the Rainbow Factory destroyed the place... We didn't want Cloudsdale to go through the same, so we were going to warn Princess Celestia and Princess Luna to shut down this factory for good, and make sure it never returns," Silver Cloud admitted.

"Aww, you hear that? They're scared they'll lose their precious Cloudsdale!" Snowflake mocked.

"Aww!" Snowcone said. "How pathetic." Moon Beam stared at the ground, feeling tears growing in her eyes.

"Just stop it!" Silver Cloud demanded.

"That, little pony, was a very, very big mistake," Snowflake said, her eyes beginning to glow red. Silver Cloud gulped. Moon Beam began to cry.

"Hahaha! Well, our day wasn't a total waste. We've made this reject here cry!" Snowflake smirked.

"Hahahah!" Snowcone evilly laughed.

"Do you know what we do to snitches? Do you have any clue?" Snowflake asked, shoving her face right in front of Moon Beam's. She tried looking away, but Snowflake kept pushing her muzzle in her face.

"Answer the question!" Snowcone demanded.

"No, we don't!" Silver Cloud yelled, slowly being driven over the edge mentally by the two tall twin ponies.

"You get slammed into a torture room cage and you'll stay there for weeks until you die from dehydration, starvation and being beat constantly! Ponies go there to die - For they have dishonoured and mocked our proud name!" Snowflake shouted. Moon Beam wouldn't stop crying. She was terrified, because she had nearly lost her life back in Manechester because of Snowflake and Snowcone.

"Why do you have to be so evil...?" Moon Beam whispered, sniffling.

"Evil? My darling foolish pony, you don't know the meaning of evil yet. You haven't seen us at our worst," Snowcone replied.

"Thanks to the information of Silver Spoon, we know what you've done. Does a sabotaged Dizzatron Machine and flying obstacles sound familiar?" Snowflake asked.

"H-How did you find out it was us?!" Silver Cloud demanded.

"Idiot! CCTV does exist, you know!" Snowflake snapped. Silver Cloud gulped.

"I think we ought to finish off this pony here first," Snowcone commented. He shoved his hoof into Silver Cloud's side violently. Silver Cloud flinched.

"Mmh, I think so too. He does have quite the attitude, doesn't he?" Snowflake replied.

"Don't hurt him! Just... Take me instead! It was my idea, Silver Cloud was forced into doing this!" Moon Beam suddenly shouted.

"What?" Silver Cloud asked.

"Yeah, what?" Snowflake asked.

"You heard me, didn't you? Let Silver Cloud go and just imprison me. Do whatever you wish to harm me in that torture room, but just please, let Silver Cloud go free!" Moon Beam begged.

"Moon Beam, no..." Silver Cloud said.

"It's a deal," Snowflake said.

"No!" Silver Cloud shouted.

"Sorry, Silver Cloud..." Moon Beam sighed. Snowflake and Snowcone dragged Moon Beam away, leaving Silver Cloud shocked and not knowing what to do. No cries of protest came from Moon Beam.

"Why... Why did that idiot do that?!" Silver Cloud cursed.

Snowflake and Snowcone carried Moon Beam through to the torture room. "Yo, Rainbow Dash. We caught the sabotager who admitted to doing all of it," Snowflake said.

"Ah, fantastic. I'm going to have a great time destroying this pony's life... Indeed I am," Rainbow Dash smirked.

"Where's Diamond Tiara?" Snowflake wondered.

"Oh, it was getting late and she was tired, so I just let her get to bed," Rainbow Dash replied.

"Ah, fair enough then. Okay, have fun with her. By the way, you might wanna thank Silver Spoon for catching them out. There were two of them, but this one admitted to egging the other one on, so we'll leave it at that. Rest assured, the other one won't be doing anything else of the sort," Snowflake explained.

"Gotcha. Thanks," Rainbow Dash replied. Snowflake and Snowcone left the torture room. "Ah... I recognise you. You're Moon Beam, somepony that Scootaloo knows, right?"

"Well, I've spoken to her a couple of times..." Moon Beam mumbled, staring at the ground.

"Oh well... That's too bad, isn't it?" Rainbow Dash asked. She picked up Moon Beam and flew up to an empty cage. All around her, she heard shouts of anger directed towards her by the prisoners. The ponies in the cages absolutely despised Rainbow Dash. She ignored these ponies and threw Moon Beam into the cage. She made sure it was properly locked. She then flew down to the ground and rummaged through a box. She picked out a whip that looked brand new. "I can test out this today for the first time..." Rainbow Dash flew back over to Moon Beam's cage.

"W-What are you going to do to me...?" she whispered.

"I'm gonna beat the shit out of you, because you made my lesson a living hell today... And nopony gets away with taking the piss out of my methods of teaching, nor do they do what the hell they want!" Rainbow Dash shouted, losing control of her anger.

"Get away from her, you monster!" yelled a pony.

"Don't you dare whip her!" shouted another.

"All of you can shut the hell up, otherwise you're joining this pathetic pony in dying tonight!" Rainbow Dash snapped. They instantly shut up. "Good." Rainbow Dash took Moon Beam out of her cage and threw her to the ground from high up. She landed with a thud.

"May Celestia be with me..." Moon Beam whispered to herself. Rainbow Dash flew down and put the whip in her mouth, to get a harder hit out of it. Some ponies in the cages closed their eyes. Others turned away and blocked their ears. The rest were shouting insults towards Rainbow Dash. The sound was horrible. A thick whip clashing into the body of a pony, sounding like a crack. Rainbow Dash repeatedly whipped Moon Beam's face and body where the ribs were. She lay hopelessly on the ground. Rainbow Dash whipped at Moon Beam's throat. "Stop... Stop...!" she choked.

"Or what?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Just please... I only sabotaged the lesson - I didn't hurt anypony," Moon Beam said.

"You could've. You could've hurt Scootaloo. I don't give a damn about Featherwing who almost got knocked unconscious today during that lesson... But Scootaloo is my sister, and if you hurt her, then you'd pay extra. This is just what you deserve for making a mockery of me today." Rainbow Dash spoke in a low voice.

"Scootaloo isn't your sister, you liar!" Moon Beam shouted.

"NEVER call me a liar!" Rainbow Dash snapped, and cracked the whip off her face, harder than she had been doing previously. "Learn to respect me, and I will respect you back! You stupid, pathetic, worthless pegasus pony!" Rainbow Dash was beating Moon Beam into unconsciousness. "Are you still listening? Because you need to hear all these things I'm saying about you... Do you feel worthless? Do you feel like dying?" Rainbow Dash's words went straight through Moon Beam. Even though she was weak, she had to do something. While Rainbow Dash was laughing at the suffering of the pony before her, Moon Beam quietly got up, and shoved Rainbow Dash over to the ground.

"I asked you to stop..." Moon Beam whispered, weakly. She grabbed the whip from Rainbow Dash and stood on top of her with her front legs, crushing her body.

"You're making a big mistake," Rainbow Dash said. Moon Beam got in one hit from the whip - Right across Rainbow Dash's eye. With that, Rainbow Dash managed to kick Moon Beam over. She bit Moon Beam's wing hard, right where the sensitive part was. Moon Beam yelped. She repeatedly kicked Moon Beam, until she was at the edge of where the deep hole was. "I told you it was a big mistake. Hahah! Any last words?"

"Please don't..." she mumbled.

"You're wasting your last words on begging?" Rainbow Dash asked. She kicked Moon Beam over. She hung on to the edge. Rainbow Dash tried kicking her off, but she wouldn't budge. "Just give up! You know you're going to die anyway!"

"I'm not going to die as easily as that! Ponies need to know about this sick place... And it's my duty to tell them about it!" Moon Beam replied. Rainbow Dash cracked the whip against Moon Beam's face, to make her try and defend herself, so she could fall. Moon Beam looked below her. She saw a pony's horn light up. Is that a signal for me...? Moon Beam thought. She was going to risk it. She let go of the edge and fell. "Ahhhh!"

"Hahaha! I win!" Rainbow Dash evilly laughed. She heard the thud that Moon Beam made when she landed. Rainbow Dash thought that she had won and that Moon Beam was dead...

Scootaloo's Point of View

I had some trouble sleeping that night. It's funny how on a night time, things really catch up with you... That's what's happening right now. It's 3am and I can't even sleep. Featherwing and Angel are lucky. They don't carry regrets, do they? They just carry insults and empty threats. I sighed and turned over in my bed. I stared aimlessly out of the window. It seems to be raining a lot, doesn't it? I'm just bored, I can't focus on anything else. A knock came at the door. Huh? Who's here at three in the morning? Seriously? Angel and Featherwing weren't going to get up any time soon to answer, so I got out of bed. I opened the door, to see faces that I really didn't expect to see at all. "...Hello Scootaloo." Oh crap.

(Word count: 8635. Wow, this took me a lot longer than I expected... Procrastination for the win!)


	4. Relationships

**Note to my FanFiction viewers: I am writing this for my three friends who view this on Google Documents. These chapters are only reuploaded onto here by me because I want some more opinions on my story. I am not ignoring you by not responding if there are any reviews. If you have any questions or suggestions, just PM me instead of leaving an anonymous review. Thank you. You also know what to expect from a Rainbow Factory FanFiction - Blood, gore and lots of anger and swearing. You have been warned.**

**(Just a note: This chapter will contain some swearing and more violence.)**

Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. The two faces that you really don't want to see during the middle of the night. "Um... H-Hi?" I shakily replied. I wasn't so scared of Diamond Tiara... Just Silver Spoon, because she was the one threatening to kill me and my friends. Well, it was implied, anyway.

"I've been hearing some interesting things, you know," Diamond Tiara said.

"You have?" I asked, trying to play along with her.

"Yep. I have. Apparently, you went sneaked out of the factory to go and meet two uninteresting ponies," Diamond Tiara replied.

"Who, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle? How did you find out about that?" I asked.

"What do you think I am, an idiot? CCTV exists. That, and Silver Spoon has quite the eye," Diamond Tiara said. Silver Spoon's glasses shone, reflecting the moonlight. An interesting effect to say the least, but maybe she's up to something.

"Well... So what if I did see them? It's not forbidden or anything," I replied.

"I beg to differ." Silver Spoon shoved a long list of terms and conditions in my face. She underlined the rule which said 'nopony is allowed to leave Rainbow Factory at any time, no matter what the circumstances. Exceptions must be approved by Snowflake or Snowcone.' with her hoof. She pulled the list away. "So yes, Scootaloo. To answer your statement, it is forbidden." Silver Spoon put the list down. Talk about pathetic, carrying that around everywhere she goes...

"And also, we've caught your little friends Moon Beam and Silver Cloud in the act of being the sabotagers," Diamond Tiara said. "Once again, thanks to Silver Spoon."

"How is that relevant to me? I barely speak to them," I replied.

"Well, it's relevant in the sense that we know you saw something during Rainbow Dash's lesson... Sound familiar?" Silver Spoon asked. I silently gasped. Somepony blabbed!

"But I only told Flare Cha-" I stopped speaking, realising. "Oh..."

"Aww, how sad. Looks like your boyfriend makes the perfect snitch," Diamond Tiara smirked.

"But... But... What does this have to do with me? Why are you here?" I asked.

"Because Silver Cloud got away with sabotaging the Dizzatron machine! If you had opened your mouth earlier, they both would have been in trouble for it. But nooo! You didn't have anything smart to say this time, did you?" Silver Spoon replied.

"Just put that fact aside for now. Am I in any trouble for sneaking out of the factory?" I asked.

"No, unfortunately. Rainbow Dash argues against it - She argues against us hurting you for breaking the rules. I feel so sorry for her. She deserves somepony else to call her sister, not one who bumps into trouble and provokes it," Silver Spoon said.

"But this is your little warning, Scootaloo. One more bad move, and we won't bother to listen to Rainbow Dash. Once is bad enough, making a mockery of the rules... But if you do this once more, you're going straight on that conveyor belt and you'll be crushed into a bloody rainbow. Are we clear?" Diamond Tiara added.

"We're... We're clear..." I mumbled.

"Great! So glad we could have this little chat, Scootaloo!" Diamond Tiara said, plastering on a fake nice attitude.

"Sweet dreams!" Silver Spoon giggled. They gave me one last evil smirk and slammed the door. I sighed and trailed back over to my bed. I looked over at Featherwing and Angel. They were still asleep... I got into bed and faced the wall. I closed my eyes and focused on nothing but silence.

"They're awful, aren't they...?" whispered a friendly voice. I opened my eyes.

"Angel?" I asked.

"Yeah... I was awake the whole time... I should have said something," Angel softly replied.

"No, you would have just got in trouble. Not to be rude or anything but... Didn't you hate me earlier?" I said.

"No... I was just angry at Featherwing. I'm sorry about your letter - I hope it was just a hello from your friends. I'd hate it to be something important and then it was just ripped up," Angel replied.

"Oh... No problem..." I whispered. I let out a little sigh.

"Is everything okay?" Angel wondered.

"I... I guess it is..." I said. It would have to be alright, wouldn't it?

"Alright. But if you ever need anything, don't be afraid to talk to me," Angel warmly replied.

"Thanks Angel. I appreciate it."

"Well... Goodnight." I groaned in response. I suddenly felt tired, and couldn't be bothered to talk. I didn't mean to sound rude, either. I think staring at the ceiling for two hours straight really catches up with you. I slowly closed my eyes and drifted to sleep.

I woke up the next morning. It felt like an ordinary day, but then it hit me. Today's the day Rainbow Dash promised that she would take me out to do some fun activities. I hopped eagerly out of bed and got prepared. A knock came at the door. Oh? I went to the door and opened it. I set eyes upon Rainbow Dash, except this Rainbow Dash... She looked really ill and beaten down. "Hey...kid..."

"Rainbow? Are you okay?" I asked, worried.

"I... Don't feel..." Rainbow Dash mumbled. She toppled over before I could catch her.

"Rainbow Dash!" I gasped.

Third Person's Point of View (sorry for all the switches, it's necessary.)

Scootaloo managed to lift Rainbow Dash onto her back and rush to the medical room that she went to when she hurt her wing. Scootaloo didn't knock before she entered. "It's an emergency! Rainbow Dash is hurt!" Scootaloo shouted.

"Scootaloo? Oh my... What happened to Rainbow Dash?" asked Cherry, the nurse who had seen to Scootaloo just a few days ago.

"I-I dunno, she just fainted right in front of me! Help!" Scootaloo replied.

"Okay, okay. Come on, follow me through to a hospital room," Cherry said. She quickly led Scootaloo through to a hospital room. It was small and had only a bed in it, but one thing was different... All of the medical equipment. Rainbow Dash was lifted onto a bed and Cherry checked her over. Scootaloo stayed in silence as Cherry was closely examining Rainbow Dash.

"...Anything?" I quietly asked. I didn't want to sound impatient, but I was just really worried about Rainbow Dash.

"It seems as though she's been suffering from some injuries. I don't know how they got there, though. I've been examining her wings and underneath them, and I can see some little bruises forming, and even some stitched up wounds," Cherry replied, sounding deep in concentration.

"S-Somepony's been hurting her?" I asked, jumping to conclusions.

"I can't make assumptions such as those due to my profession. Anyway... It could have been just a nasty fall from her training. You know what Rainbow's like, always doing her little flying tricks and what not," Cherry said.

"Oh. Okay..." I mumbled.

"I think we'll just give her a little rest up in here until she comes back into consciousness, then we'll let her go with some painkillers. I'll try to let you know when she's all good to go. But for now, you might be waiting a little while. Maybe you can go do some things with your friends," Cherry replied.

"I guess so." She turned and let out a small sigh. Today was supposed to be her date day with Rainbow Dash. She couldn't believe this had happened to her. Scootaloo walked out of the medical room miserably. On her way out, she bumped into a pony. She landed flat on my flank. "Ow..."

"Scootaloo! Sorry," said Flare Chaser.

"Oh, Flare! It's no problem," Scootaloo replied.

"Hey, aren't you meant to be out with Rainbow Dash?" Flare Chaser asked. She shook her head.

"Not any more," Scootaloo said. They began to walk through the factory to get outside to the fields. "She's really hurt. She came to see me this morning, but fainted right in front of me. The nurse says she's probably hurt herself because of her flying tricks and stuff, but I don't think it was that."

"What do you think it was?"

"I dunno." She spoke in a blank tone, yet had a certain sharpness to how she spoke. This is because Flare Chaser betrayed her by telling Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon that she saw something during Rainbow Dash's lesson. Well, in her eyes that was the situation.

"Hey, are you okay? You don't sound too... Uh well, happy," Flare Chaser said.

"I'm perfectly fine... Except you went and told only the two most worse ponies ever that I saw something to do with a sabotage in Rainbow's lesson!" Scootaloo shouted. Flare Chaser looked blankly at her for a few moments, as if he were taking in some kind of acknowledgement.

"I... Did?" he asked slowly.

"What are you, brain dead?" Scootaloo callously snapped. She could get angry sometimes. This anger had only progressed itself further because of her time at the Rainbow Factory.

"Scootaloo, I don't know what your problem is... But talk to me when you've figured it out," Flare Chaser said, clearly offended. He turned away from Scootaloo and flew off.

"Fine! I don't care!" Scootaloo shouted. Everything in the factory was going from bad to worse; including Scootaloo's relationship with Flare Chaser...

_Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon trotted up to Rainbow Dash, cornering her. "Get away from me! I'm in control of you!" Rainbow Dash shouted._

_"Your blank flank 'sister' is causing a ton of crap for us!" Diamond Tiara shouted._

_"And that's not something we can let slide, Rainbow Dash," Silver Spoon added. It was a cool and peaceful night. The machines were retired for the day, and nothing but stillness filled the air outside of the Rainbow Factory. The moonlight's reflection bounced off the windows of the factory, making it look truly like all was at peace. However... On the inside of the factory, the halls of the underground basement were filled with screaming and weeping ponies of all ages and the evil laughter of the two main factory owners... Snowcone and Snowflake. In one room in particular, the torture room, were three individual ponies. Although they were all different in each and every way, their one shared trait was that they were - putting it simply - losing grip of sanity. Two ponies of this group - one whose main feature was wearing her signature tiara, and the other's, whose main feature was wearing her signature teal glasses - were ganging up against the other pony, one whose main feature was being arguably the best weather control pony in all of Cloudsdale. For you see, Rainbow Dash's so called 'sister' was getting in the way of things, and causing nothing but trouble. According to these two young ponies, anyway._

_"Who, Scootaloo? She's doing absolutely nothing to harm you two selfish bitches personally, so lay off!" Rainbow Dash snapped._

_"Ooh, somepony's touchy," Diamond Tiara smirked. _

_"You want to see touchy? Bring it on!" Rainbow Dash kicked Diamond Tiara in the stomach, bucking her back legs just right to wind her correctly. Diamond Tiara fell over, Rainbow's moves succeeding. Silver Spoon smacked her left foreleg hoof into Rainbow Dash's face, causing her to hit her head off the wall. Rainbow Dash quickly recovered, shook it off, and rose to her hooves._

_"Silver Spoon, finish her! I can't move!" Diamond Tiara ordered._

_"I'm on it... You know, Rainbow Dash. You're quite pathetic... You can't fight to save shit," Silver Spoon said, an evil smile growing on her face._

_"You two ponies deserve what's coming to you... You've been against Scootaloo ever since you first met her, all because you're both sad and lonely little ponies. Well here's what I say... Fuck you!" Rainbow Dash shouted, her voice echoing against the walls of the torture room. The ponies in their cages simply chose not to watch the fight going on before their eyes. They had seen enough bad things in their lives. Rainbow Dash dug her teeth into Silver Spoon's neck and chose not to let go. Silver Spoon cried out in pain, causing Rainbow Dash to bite deeper._

_"Let go of her!" Diamond Tiara shouted. Rainbow Dash kicked her in the face with her back leg, while still keeping a grip on Silver Spoon. Silver Spoon, however, was pushing her two forelegs against Rainbow Dash's to try and get her off._

_"Get off...!" Silver Spoon whined. Rainbow Dash kicked Silver Spoon over and stood next to her. Rainbow Dash spat out Silver Spoon's blood. She then proceeded to jab her hooves violently into the ribs of the pony that lay on the floor beside her. Diamond Tiara grabbed Rainbow Dash's tail in her mouth, and yanked on it. Rainbow Dash fell over to the ground and then Diamond Tiara stood on top of her. Silver Spoon got herself up._

_"Are you okay, Silver?" Diamond Tiara asked._

_"I am... But the real question is, what will we do with this pony here?" Silver Spoon replied._

Rainbow Dash jumped awake. The bed that she was lying in was covered in her sweat, because of her bad dream. Well, it wasn't a bad dream... It was what actually happened to her that night. The two ponies, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, were the ones responsible for the wounds and bruises on Rainbow Dash's body. She only had herself to blame for starting that fight, but she wanted to defend Scootaloo no matter what. So technically, it was for her; not just Rainbow Dash's anger. Rainbow Dash examined her surroundings. "Oh that's right... I fainted this morning. I guess Scootaloo took me here..." she mumbled to herself. She tried to sit up, but her body was too stiff. Rainbow Dash yelped and fell back down. _What did those ponies do to me...? _Rainbow Dash thought. Cherry trotted through to Rainbow Dash's room.

"Ah, Rainbow! You're awake! Scootaloo will be glad to hear that," said Cherry. Rainbow Dash thought the sound of Cherry's voice was quite annoying, since she was cheerful 24/7. How can a pony be so cheerful all the time? Rainbow Dash couldn't possibly think of the answer.

"So Scootaloo brought me here?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Exactly that! Shall I go get her?" Cherry replied.

"Nah... I'll go talk to her myself. If I can go, that is," Rainbow Dash said, hinting.

"Oh! Why of course you can. We just put you here until you woke up. Now, about your injuries... Two things: Do you know how they happened?" Cherry asked. Rainbow Dash paused. Could she really trust this pony to tell her?

"...I-I don't."

"Well, that's alright. And secondly, you don't have any allergies to painkillers, do you?" Cherry asked.

"Nope," Rainbow Dash said.

"Great! Well, you can get on out of bed, and I'll be back in a few moments with some painkillers for you, then you're good to go!" Cherry smiled and trotted off. Rainbow Dash let out a sigh. Then, a thought crossed her mind. _Oh damn it, I was meant to go out with Scootaloo today! She's gonna be so angry with me! _Rainbow Dash thought, silently gasping. Cherry returned literally seconds later, which kind of creeped Rainbow Dash out. The way Cherry was always so cheery and quick reminded her of Pinkie Pie, the always-hyper pony who also, not to mention, broke the fourth wall and laws of physics nearly always. But then she remembered Cupcakes. Rainbow Dash shuddered and turned her attention back to Cherry. Cherry held out a small tube of painkillers. Rainbow Dash took them.

"Thanks," she said.

"No problem. Be safe, now!" Cherry smiled. Rainbow Dash remained emotionless and she flew her way out of the medical room. When she was out of the room properly, she landed on the ground. She then made her way to find Scootaloo, to try and apologise for ruining the day. Rainbow Dash had a thought of where to find her favourite little pony - Her bedroom.

Rainbow Dash came to the door of Scootaloo's bedroom. She was about to knock, but she heard two ponies bickering. _Angel and Featherwing._ "Man, these ponies don't know when to quit..." she complained. She knocked on the door. Silence came, but only for a few seconds. Those few seconds were the quietest of Rainbow Dash's life around the two ponies who were quite like Diamond Tiara and Featherwing.

"No, you go answer the door!" shouted the first voice.

"What am I, your slave? Do it yourself!" replied the second voice.

"Oh for the love of pony... I'll answer it!" snapped a familiar voice. Scootaloo. The door was opened, and Rainbow Dash set eyes upon Scootaloo. "D-Dash!"

"Hey kid! I'm feeling much better now. Sorry 'bout earlier," Rainbow Dash said.

"Rainbow Dash! Oh, thank goodness you're okay!" Scootaloo exclaimed.

"Ew." The sly comment came from none other than Featherwing. Angel was too busy being silent and not involving herself.

"Did you say something?" Rainbow Dash asked, glaring at the teal-coloured pony.

"Maybe, maybe not," Featherwing remarked.

"Oh my god, you have such a big mouth, Featherwing. Just shut up," Angel said.

"Did I miss something here?" Rainbow Dash asked, directing her question towards Scootaloo.

"You're better off not asking..." Scootaloo said, rolling her eyes.

"Well, we got somewhere to be goin'!" Rainbow Dash replied. She closed the bedroom door, leaving the two ponies to shout at each other endlessly.

"I don't feel like it any more," Scootaloo said.

"What? But I thought you-"

"Well I don't!" Scootaloo interrupted. Rainbow Dash stared at her little sister.

"What's your problem?" she asked.

"My problem? It's you! Do you have to go and be such a big baby and faint about a couple of little cuts?" Scootaloo snapped.

"Excuse me?" Rainbow Dash asked, shocked.

"What, do you need a hearing aid added to your list of things wrong with you, too?" Scootaloo remarked.

"Scootaloo, chillax!" Rainbow Dash demanded.

"No! Don't tell me what to do! Do you think, just because you're older, you can tell me what to do? That you can boss me around and think that everything will be okay moments later?" Scootaloo asked.

"Okay, time out!" Rainbow Dash yelled.

"No, I-"

"I said, TIME OUT." Scootaloo silenced herself, but still held an angry look on her face. "Okay. Do you care to tell me _what the hell_ is wrong with you today?"

"What, why does something have to be wrong with me?" Scootaloo asked.

"Because you're never as bitchy as this - And excuse my language when I say that," Rainbow Dash replied.

"Do you really wanna know? Well, you will! It's everything in this damn factory! First, you bail out on me just for a couple of injuries... It's the ponies in here, too! Diamond Tiara, Silver Spoon, Coco, Featherwing, Moon Beam, Silver Cloud... What the hell is wrong with them?! Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon come to me in the middle of the damn night and start accusing me for messing things up, and they're telling me that I'm gonna die here! Explain that to me. Go on! EXPLAIN IT!" Scootaloo screeched. Rainbow Dash could see the tears in her eyes. She didn't know what to say in response, though.

"They're telling you that you're gonna... What?!" Rainbow Dash said.

"Don't act all innocent! I know that you're probably involved in their dirty work. Aren't you? They said that themselves - they're associated with you!" Scootaloo shouted.

"Well that's a load," Rainbow Dash replied.

"Say something other than that! And... And... What's with the rumours of this place? Huh? Don't even try to deny it, either!" Scootaloo said.

"Rumours?" Rainbow Dash asked, trying to recall. She let out a sigh. "It's all bullshit, 'kay?"

"I highly doubt that."

"Well you better drop the attitude before somepony here actually does do something to you! Then you won't be 'highly doubting' it! I'm trying to be damn well reasonable here, but you're just whining on and on and on like it's my fault! Just grow the hell up, you little baby," Rainbow Dash snapped. Scootaloo bit her lip, trying to keep tears in. "What? So now you wanna cry about it? Just when I thought you were cool." Rainbow Dash opened her wings and flew off. Scootaloo shook her tears off and pushed open the door. Angel and Featherwing were still arguing, so Scootaloo decided not to make such a big fuss. She just fell miserably onto her bed. Every single day was starting to get worse and worse for this little pegasus pony; nothing was going to go her way. No matter what.

Time Skip (Scootaloo's Point of View)

I didn't feel like doing much over the weekend. I had nothing to do, simply because my new friend hated me and my sister hated me. I wasn't going to feel too sorry for myself, though. I have a right to be angry, because of everything that's been happening in this messed up place. I would leave if I could.

When Monday finally drew in, I knew that today would be the start of another long week. As usual, the drums and other loud noise came from outside of the bedrooms, waking us all up early. Featherwing and Angel grumbled and woke up. I was already awake for about half an hour earlier anyway, so it didn't matter to me. The drums just snapped me back into reality. I got out of bed. "Morning, Scootaloo..." Angel shyly said.

"Oh. Morning," I replied.

"Wanna walk to the training fields with me?" Angel offered.

"Sorry, but you're walking with _me, _Angel," interrupted Featherwing.

"No I'm-" Featherwing pushed Angel forward and out of the room. Oh well, whatever.

I made my way to the training fields by myself. I settled in with the crowd and noticed Coco was taking our lesson today. Oh look. It's the attitude queen who's only nice to me. I could see Flare Chaser, but he looked away from me. Ugh... "Okay everypony! Today is the day that we put together our pairs for the activity week! During this week, we will be focusing on team activities, that require the both of you to do an equal amount of work," Coco explained. Pairs? Oh, isn't that fantastic... Coco began to read out a long list of ponies who were in pairs. Is it just me, or is my luck extremely bad? I've been put with Flare Chaser. What's the point of that? We don't even like each other any more. There was one pony left by themselves, so that means there were only 49 ponies. So where's the 50th...? Oh well.

"Just leave the talking to a minimum with me," Flare Chaser coldly said.

"Fine by me."

"Our first activity is a flag hunt! Now, I know what you're all thinking - A flag hunt? She must be crazy! Well no, not entirely. This will help you with your visual skills, meaning you can be aware of your surroundings, which will come in handy for the final test this month. It will also improve your wing strength. To any of you ponies who have horns as well as wings, magic spells are forbidden for this activity, as it gives you an unfair advantage. There are twenty flags to collect. Whichever team collects the most wins," Coco explained. She cleared her throat. "There is no time limit. So, ponies... Go!" I and Flare Chaser flew up to the sky. I was going to go one way, but Flare Chaser went the other.

"What are you doing? Come this way, nopony else is going this way!" I shouted.

"Tough luck!" Flare Chaser replied.

"You can't go off by yourself!" I said.

"Yes I can."

"Fine! I'll go my own way, and I'll win." I flew off in the direction I wanted to go in. My god, why is he being so stubborn? Whatever! I don't care, it's his choice. I flew towards the bottom end of the fields, where a stream and rocks were. I managed to see a flag. Aha! I flew down towards it. It was stuck in between two rocks; I could see that when I came closer to it. I landed on top of the rock. I took in the surroundings. It was actually quite a peaceful place, away from all of the ridiculous things of the factory. I pulled on the flag, to find it wouldn't budge. "Oh come on... Were they purposely put like this just to tick me off?" I pulled on the flag as hard as I could. Uugh! Move, you stupid flag! Unless... Unless Coco did put the flags in an awkward position on purpose - And that they wouldn't move without two ponies! I see what she's doing here... I bet everypony that Rainbow Dash works with knows that I'm a piece of trouble, and that I'm not talking to my partner. That's why I was put with Flare Chaser I bet! I shook my head and sighed. I'd have to go and find Flare Chaser to actually win this. Just because we're not friends, it doesn't mean I'm losing this competition. I didn't come to Rainbow Factory to lose. I lifted myself up and flew in the direction that Flare Chaser had went off in. I flew aimlessly around, only coming across a couple of pony teams. The next team I saw, I asked them. "Excuse me, guys! Have you seen Flare Chaser?"

"Sorry, we haven't," replied the first pony.

"Oh. Okay. Thank you anyway," I said.

"No problem, and good luck!" smiled the second pony. I saw that they had five flags. Already? They must be working in a good team... This only made me realise how selfish I was being. I sighed and continued searching. It took me a couple more minutes roughly, but then I caught sight of a pony down at the opposite end of the field. This area was identical to the one I was just in, but this one had a pony stuck there.

"Flare Chaser?" I called down. I flew down to where the pony was. It turned out to be Flare Chaser, and he was stuck. His wing was being crushed under a rock. "Flare Chaser, what happened?"

"What are you doing here? I thought you just wanted to go your own way," Flare Chaser said.

"No... Well, yes. I did want to go my own way, but we need to work as a team for this. Friends or not. We don't even have to communicate, okay? I just want to win this competition," I replied.

"Fine then. Help me get out of this mess." I nodded and shoved the rock as hard as I could, to no avail. The rock was too heavy for me to move.

"It's no good!" I said.

"Try harder then!" Flare Chaser demanded.

"If you weren't being so demanding and just shut your mouth for five seconds!" I argued. I felt anger burning up inside of me again, like I did on Saturday, after everything had happened. This anger and arguing helped me, surprisingly, to push the rock. Flare Chaser rubbed his wing. "You're an alicorn anyway, is your magic not powerful enough to move it yourself?"

"Are you kidding me? There's no way my magic is that advanced yet!" Flare Chaser shouted.

"Well it should be," I remarked.

"Argh! What the hell is your problem lately?!" Flare Chaser exclaimed.

"You!" I snapped. Flare Chaser just stayed silent. I huffed and lifted myself up. "Just follow me, okay?"

I and Flare Chaser ended up collecting 0 flags. None at all. We landed with the crowd. "Nice going, idiot."

"Would you shut up?" Flare Chaser hissed.

"Good work, everypony! Although some of you didn't collect any flags, or not as many as the others, it doesn't mean you were a bad team. It's the teamwork and strength building that counts," Coco said.

"In some cases," Flare Chaser whispered, glaring at me. I rolled my eyes and chose to ignore that comment.

"Okay. For our next activity..."

Third Person's Point of View

While Coco was giving her lesson to 49 of the 50 ponies that attended Rainbow Factory, something else was happening in the underground basement, where all sorts of rooms lay. Such as the torture room, the main factory room, Fluttershy's office... All of those rooms consist of one thing happening: Pain. The ponies in the torture room are chosen at random to be punished on a certain day. It all depends on the mood of the ponies who run the torture room - Those two ponies being Rainbow Dash and Diamond Tiara. However, Diamond Tiara stayed well away from the torture room ever since Friday night. Either she was scared of what was coming to her after treating Rainbow Dash like an unwanted pet, or she was simply planning even more horrible things to do to her. However, Rainbow Dash was angry. She was angry at everypony - More importantly, angry at Scootaloo. "I don't get her! She's just being so damn irritating... And I don't have time to give up for her petty needs." Rainbow Dash sighed. "I need some air..." She left the torture room, locking in all darkness for the caged ponies. It was actually their favourite time, when the owners of the room left. They were allowed to talk and be as loud as they wanted.

"You're okay now, Moon Beam..." whispered a pony. Moon Beam had previously been pushed off the edge of the little cave, but a pony used their horn to indicate that it was okay to drop, because she'd land directly on top of the cage. Where that cage was, there was a hole in the wall for Moon Beam to hide in. Whenever Rainbow Dash left, she could escape the hole and have some freedom. And when they were out, Moon Beam would sneak out very carefully and bring back as much food and water as possible for the ponies in cages. There were only about ten ponies in those cages currently, so it wouldn't be much of a problem.

"Thank you for all of your help, Lemon Twist," sighed Moon Beam, coming out of the hole. Moon Beam didn't risk trying to escape the torture room, because she'd get found out too easily. Questions would be asked, such as why she was out of the torture room, and that would only be followed by another beating. Moon Beam didn't want that. The pony's cage that she landed on was Lemon Twist's. That pony was an alicorn, who was yellow coloured, and her mane was pink. Lemon Twist had been in the cages ever since the factory in Manechester and was surprised how she managed to survive. Sure, she could sneak in some food to her cage from time to time, but was caught occasionally, so she tended not to do it as much as she'd like to. Lemon Twist was what one could call pure of heart. She didn't want another pony to suffer the same as she and her friends did, which is why she helped Moon Beam. They were both around the same age, but Lemon Twist had a deeper outlook on life, because of the way she was being treated at the Rainbow Factory. She was also getting on quite well with Moon Beam.

"I don't know why this place has such a cheerful name... As if it's trying to cover up its sickness with a happy image. I tell you... I'll never look at a rainbow in the same way. I know that it isn't how all rainbows are made, but... You get where I'm coming from. Every month, we're forced to watch the rainbow created by dead ponies. It's like... It's like we're watching their spirits fly away. There are so many ghosts hanging around here - No wonder I'm always so sleep deprived," Lemon Twist said.

"It's awful... Me and my friend Silver Cloud were lucky to escape from Manechester's disaster. We didn't actually go to the factory there, but we could see it all. We came to this one in hopes to shut it down for good. That's how I ended up in this torture room right now, because we were going to warn Princess Twilight or Celestia or Luna about this factory, but... We got caught," Moon Beam replied.

"I've heard things about Snowflake, you know," Lemon Twist said, suddenly changing the conversation subject.

"Like what?" Moon Beam wondered. She sat on top of Lemon Twist's cage.

"Like she hasn't always been so evil and twisted as she is now. Haven't you ever noticed that she has that sweet tone to her voice sometimes, or it seems as though she cares?" Lemon Twist replied.

"Hmm, not really. I haven't really seen her around much," Moon Beam said.

"It's actually quite an interesting story... My mother was friends with Snowcone and Snowflake's mother, around five years ago... Two years ago, my mother started telling me the story of them, because it was a long night. Anyway, she said that Snowcone had always had anger problems, even as a small child. He'd use his magic to pick up things and throw them off Snowflake. Apparently one day, he just flipped. He attacked Snowflake so many times, it's no wonder she grew up to be so aggressive," Lemon Twist explained.

"So I guess we shouldn't really hate Snowflake?" Moon Beam asked.

"In a way..." Lemon Twist said.

"Lemon Twist, you know what? One day, this will all be over... We'll finally go free," Moon Beam suddenly said.

"Oh? Will it?" Lemon Twist asked, doubting Moon Beam's words.

"I just have a belief that somepony will save us."

"Moon Beam... No offence, but you're living in the clouds. It's been a painful year, and nopony has saved us so far. I wouldn't get your hopes up."

"Ugh, she isn't even in here!" came a voice. Moon Beam silently gasped and rushed back into her hiding hole.

"What good is a pony who needs a lesson taught to them when they aren't even here?" asked Silver Spoon. Her and Diamond Tiara were looking for Rainbow Dash, to serve her some more injuries. A noise caused the two to be aware.

"What was that noise?" Diamond Tiara asked.

"Hmmm..." Silver Spoon mumbled. She paused and looked around. "Aha! I think we have a pony who's tried to escape." Moon Beam silently gulped and sunk deeper into her hiding hole.

"Show yourself, now!" Diamond Tiara demanded. There wasn't another sound to be heard. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon waited for something to happen, but nothing did happen.

"Maybe it was just one of the ponies in the cages," Silver Spoon said.

"Maybe... Whatever it was, we'll find out." With that, the two ponies left the torture room. Moon Beam was safe for another day, but how much longer would it be until she was caught...?

**(Word count: 6203 - This was much shorter than I can usually do, but I ran out of ideas... And I also have a good starter for chapter five. Hope this chapter was good enough anyway, and wow, the first amount of swearing. Wonder what else will come. Well, that's chapter four over and done with!) **


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